


How to Train Your Dragonblood

by CrystalGirl259



Series: How to Train Your Dragonblood [1]
Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Do I even have to say what this is a parody of?, Dragon Kai, Dragon P.I.X.A.L., F/F, F/M, Human Cole, Human Jay, M/M, Not Beta Read, Ronin and Dareth are brothers, Ronin is younger in this story, human zane, possible shipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:54:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 47,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28395720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrystalGirl259/pseuds/CrystalGirl259
Summary: Jay, a gentle teenager with a love for inventing, is told he must kill a dragonblood to mark his passage into manhood and be initiated into his tribe. However, he ends up doing the exact opposite by befriending a deadly Fire dragonblood...
Relationships: Jay Walker & Zane, Kai & Jay Walker, Kai & Nya (Ninjago)
Series: How to Train Your Dragonblood [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2172387
Comments: 10
Kudos: 42





	1. Welcome to Ninjago

Our story takes place in the island city of Ninjago. It sat nine days east of hopelessness and a few degrees west of death. It was located solidly on the meridian of misery. The island surrounded by fog and a couple of giant warrior statues with bright fires burning in their open mouths. The island city, in a word, was pretty dull and sturdy. Ninjago wasn't anything too big, in fact, it was only just large enough to be called a city. There were several structures, houses, and a few farms to feed the people.

The city and its people had been here for nearly over nine generations but mostly everything built on the island was new.

The people of Ninjago had fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems in Ninjago city are the pests. You see, most places might have a few pesky mice or mosquitoes, but the people of Ninjago city had dragonbloods. Most people would leave as soon as they possibly could. The fine people of Ninjago would never abandon their home, however. The people of Ninjago were naturally born warriors. These people had a lot of trouble dealing with defeat and they also had a few stubbornness issues.

Unfortunately, even though there as plenty of colorful characters on this island city, our story focused on only one particular person.

This specific person's name was Jay. Jay was a shy teenager with reddish-brown curly hair with brown eyebrows and light freckles with dark blue eyes. He usually wore a blue jacket with a white stripe over a white t-shirt and blue pants with an orange wooly scarf. Jay let out a heavy sigh as he slumped onto his bed in his home in the center of Ninjago. It had been a very long workday in Ninjago for him and all he wanted to do was sleep for a month.

All of a sudden his whole house was shook so violently it caused him to nearly fell off his bed.

Jay panicked and ran over to the front door to see what was going on out there. When he opened it he had barely a second to slam the door shut before a ball of fire hit him. It was yet another dragonblood attack. Although they could appear to be humans, dragonbloods held elemental powers along with the powerful and dangerous ability to transform into a rampaging dragon. These beasts loved to use their powers and dragon forms to plunder and pillage human homes to steal food and supplies.

Most of the world had grown to fear these terrifying creatures, including the people of Ninjago.

Jay quickly ran out of the now burning house and saw more than a dozen different dragonbloods flying around Ninjago, causing chaos. They were flying through the village blowing fire and stealing food while the people tried to stop them. Jay suddenly tripped up and fell right into Cliff Gordon, the leader of the village. Cliff Gordon had smooth, jet black hair, sharp pale blue eyes, and a thin black mustache. He wore light silver armor and had a stern look on his aged face.

They say when he was a baby, he knocked a dragonblood's head clean off its shoulders and Jay believed that was true.

"Jay?! What the hell are you doing here?! Get back inside!" He exclaimed and pushed the teen forward as one of the villagers ran over.

"We've got Earth dragons, Wind dragons, Poison dragons, and Daisy said she saw an Ice dragon by the docks." The villager explained as a blast of energy just barely missed them.

"Any Fire dragons?" Cliff asked as his eyes searched the dark, smoking night sky.

"Nothing yet."...

* * *

As Jay ran through the chaos, he saw two enormous torches being raised and lit and a few of the dragonbloods swarmed around them. Jay ran into a blacksmith shop and put on an apron. The couple who owned the blacksmith shop was named Ed and Edna Walker and they were both already there, working hard. They were like second parents to Jay and had taught him everything they'd known. They were responsible for supplying all of Ninjago with all their tools and weapons, especially during a dragonblood attack.

Edna Walker was a very kind woman with an aged face, greying brown hair that was tied back in a bun, and green eyes.

She wore sharp, light red spectacles, a thick brown coat, and black, stained pants. Her loving husband, Ed Walker, was well known for his forgetfulness. He often had to ask his wife to take notes for him. He had snowy white hair with dark brown eyes. He was wearing a blue long-sleeved shirt with dirty grey overalls.

"Oh thank goodness! I thought you'd been carried off!" Edna sighed in relief as Jay started to gather some tools.

"What, who me? No, come on! I'm way too muscular for their taste." Jay replied as casually as possible. "They wouldn't know what to do with all this." He added and gestured to his skinny body.

"Well, they need toothpicks, don't they?" Ed chuckled, trying to lighten the mood, only to flinch under his wife's glare. As they worked, Cliff's gruff yet booming voice made its way over the crowd, even as a Lightning dragonblood took someone's jewels and another used their powers to alight someone's home.

"Come on gang! Let's go!" Someone shouted and Jay watched as a small group of teens ran over to the fire. The gang consisted of Plundar Trask, Harumi Jade, Dareth Marriott, and his slightly older Ronin Marriott and Cole Brookstone. These were some of the toughest teens on the island and were all around his age. Plundar Trask had short, wavy black hair and steel grey eyes. He wore a dark blue outfit with a thick, dark brown belt and a large hood.

Harumi Jade had long bleached white hair with long bangs fashioned in a bun with chopsticks stuck through it.

She wore a dark green jacket with matching pants, a white shirt with red lotus flowers printed on it, and full lips painted red. Dareth Marriott had smooth, glossy brown hair and a proud smile. He wore a light brown gi with the left side of the gi was folded over the right, with the edges of the clothing lined with gold, and had a star emblem on the back. He wore a golden necklace with a star in the middle and his pants had symmetrical dark brown and elaborate gold printings.

Ronin Marriott had wavy brown hair, dark brown eyes with the beginning of a beard on his face.

He wore a dark cyan jumper with light brown pants and a large red hat. Cole Brookstone had a very muscular body, being the strongest teen in the whole of Ninjago, with long, shaggy black hair and bushy eyebrows with very dark green eyes that reminded some people of cold emerald stones. He wore a black leather jacket and pants with a dark brown tank top and black heavy-duty boots. They had it so much better than Jay did. The ginger-haired teen leaned out of the smithing window to get a better look and considered climbing out to help.

That is until Ed pulled him back into the shop.

"Oh, come on, let me out, please?" He begged. "I need to make my mark!"

"Oh, you've made plenty of marks, all in the wrong places!"

"Please, two minutes." Jay pleaded, growing more and more desperate. "I'll kill a dragonblood, my life will get infinitely better, I might even get a date!"

"You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an ax, you can't even throw one of these!" He exclaimed as he held up a bola and a warrior grabbed it and used it to bring down an earth dragonblood.

"Okay, fine, but this will throw it for me." He smirked and patted a wooden machine, which suddenly opened and shot a bola randomly, hitting a man standing in the doorway, knocking him unconscious.

"See, now this right here is what I'm talking about!"

"Mild calibration issue-"

"Don't you- no- Jay," Edna said, stopping both her husband and their apprentice. "Deary, if you ever want to get out there to fight a dragonblood, you need to stop all... this."

"But, you just pointed to all of me!"

"Yes! That's it! Stop being all of you!" Ed replied and gave Jay and sword to sharpen. Edna gave the teen an apologetic look, but choose to say nothing and returned to her own work. As they worked Jay glanced out the window at all the chaos outside. He saw wind dragons attacking sheep and earth dragons were stealing racks of fish. A poison dragon was igniting a house filled with toxic green smoke and blowing it up. He began to think about how killing even one of these beasts could get him some fame.

A wind dragon's head was sure to get him at least noticed.

Earth dragons were tough, so taking down one of those would definitely get him a date. A poison dragon was exotic and would probably give him twice the status.

"They found the sheep!" A catapult operator cried out.

"Concentrate fire over the lower bank!" Cliff ordered his men when something suddenly fired at the building next to him, causing it to burst into flames. A dragonblood still in its dragon form crawled out the flames of the burning house. and glared at the human in front of him. It was a lightning dragonblood. Only the best warriors go after those beasts. They have this nasty habit of engulfing their entire bodies in electricity, making it very difficult to defeat them.

The lightning dragonblood growled and alighted itself in electricity as got ready to charge at the human.

While people tried to put out the fire, Cliff fought the dragonblood. The beast took a few hits before retreating, disappearing into the night. Jay couldn't help but watch in awe. Killing any of those dragons would benefit Jay, but the ultimate prize was the dragonblood no one had ever seen. Just as he finished sharpening the sword, however, a high-pitched whistle was suddenly heard from the sky and the people started to panic.

"THE FIRE DRAGON! EVERYONE GET DOWN!" Someone screamed and they all ran for cover.

All of a sudden, from out of nowhere, an explosion tore one of the catapults apart. A glowing red form shot passed and disappeared in the blink of an eye. The fire dragonblood never stole food, never showed itself, and never missed its targets. They were the rarest, and one of the most powerful types of dragonbloods there were. No one had ever killed a fire dragonblood before. That was why Jay was going to be the first one.

"Man the fort, Jay," Edna called as she loaded some weapons and medical supplies into a cart.

"They need us out there!" Ed added as he grabbed an ax and they ran out into the battle. As soon as he was sure they were gone, Jay ran outside the fort, bringing his bolas launcher with him, listening to the destruction the beasts caused. A few called to him to get back inside, but Jay kept pushing a cart with the automated catapult on it. Back in the village, Cliff had managed to capture several dragonbloods in a net and wrestled them into submission.

One tried to blast him with ice, but he easily dodged it.

"Mind yourselves! The devils still have some juice in them!" He warned as the beasts were properly restrained and dragged away. Jay kept running till he came to a large, seemingly quiet hill. He set up his bola catapult on the empty hill and looked around.

"Come on, gimme something to shoot at, gimme something to shoot at." He muttered as he stared intently at the starry night sky.

He waited, and waited, and waited but nothing happened. He stood there for what felt like forever, looking around the night sky. Just as he was about to call it quits and go back home when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a shadow, visibly blotting out the stars. Looking at it, he gasped when he realized people only ever saw these just before a fire dragonblood attacked. It fired a ball at a nearby catapult, and an explosion illuminated it, showing a visible shadow.

Taking a chance, Jay fired a shot, and a loud cry was heard.

Jay watched in amazement as the shadow dropped and saw it plummeting down into a nearby forest. A loud crash rang out, and Jay's mind took no more than five seconds to realize what had happened. When it finally sunk in that he had shot down a fire dragon, the ginger-haired man started jumping and cheering loudly at his victory. He was completely unaware of a large nature dragonblood behind him, in its leafy dragon form. That is until the dragon's hot breath went down the small human's neck.

Jay gulped and turned around as the beast slowly approached him, crushing Jay's bola launcher under its feet. It was then Jay knew he had messed up big time...


	2. A Close Encounter

Cliff grunted as he helped a few soldiers restrain a small group of earth dragons in a large net. The net, like most of Ninjago's other weapons, was made mostly of vengestone. Vengestone was a mysterious substance that could disable Elemental Powers, making it a very effective containment measure and weapon against Dragonbloods. The net also prevented the dragonbloods from transforming into their human form. As they properly secured the beasts, a shrill cry suddenly sounded from the hill and caught Cliff's attention.

He turned to see a nature dragon chasing Jay, and with an annoyed sigh, got up to go help the teen yet again.

"DO NOT let them escape!" He warned before running after the dragon and Jay. Jay quickly ran behind a nearby torch pole and hid, just as a sudden burst of sharp, knife-like leaves reached around the corner. Once it had stopped, the ginger-haired teen looked behind it and on the other side. He was completely unaware of the nature dragon crawling around the other side of the torch to get to Jay. Before it could strike, Cliff punched the beast and jumped back to defend himself.

As Jay rushed to safety, the large dragon tried to breathe out another leafy blast at Cliff, but could only cough up only a few tiny, amber leaves.

It had exhausted its shots. Sensing its impending defeat, the nature dragon quickly flew away into the night. Jay let out a loud sigh of relief, finally feeling safe again, and wanted to tell Cliff about the fire dragon he'd shot down. Before either Cliff or Jay could say anything, however, the torch pole Jay had hidden behind suddenly collapsed. Both men could only watch in silence as the torch tumbled down into the village, leaving a trail of ruins in its wake.

The torch rolled onto the earth dragons Cliff had netted earlier, freeing them.

The rest of the dragonbloods manage to escape, hauling off most of Ninjago's food and livestock. Jay gulped nervously as everyone glared at him and he slowly turned to Cliff.

"Sorry, Dad, but I did hit a Fire Dragonblood." He said but Cliff simply grabbed Jay by the back of his shirt and dragged him towards their house. "It's not like the last few times, Dad! I mean, I really actually hit it! You guys were busy and I had a very clear shot and it went down, just off Raven Point, let's get a search party out there, before it-"

"STOP!" Cliff suddenly shouted. "Every time you step outside, disaster follows! Can you not see that I have bigger problems? Winter's almost here and I have an entire village to feed! Why can't you follow the simplest orders?!"

"I can't stop myself!" He argued. "I see a dragonblood and I have to just... kill it, you know? It's who I am, Dad!"

"You are many things, Jay, but a dragonblood killer is not one of them, now get back to the house." He ordered and turned to Ed and Edna, who both flinched under his stern gaze. "Make sure he gets there, I have his mess to clean up." He glared at his son as the older couple stepped forward and led the teen home while Cliff walked away in the other direction. As they walked back to the house, a few villagers glared at Jay, but he kept his head down.

"Quite the performance." Ronin laughed.

"I've never seen anyone mess up that badly, that helped!" Plundar added with a smug smirk, rubbing it in Jay's face, as usual.

"Thank you, thank you, I was really trying." He replied sarcastically, refusing to meet anyone's harsh gaze. The gang never missed an opportunity to humiliate the ginger teen and no one tried to stop them, not even Jay's own father. All three of them kept walking until they were at the front door of Jay and Cliff's house, away from the glaring crowd as they went about their way again. By now the morning sun was poking over the horizon, casting a dim, orange glow over Ninjago.

"I really did hit one, guys," Jay mumbled to the couple.

"Sure you did deary," Edna reassured, but Jay couldn't tell if she believed him or not.

"He NEVER listens."

"It runs in the family." Ed shrugged.

"When he does, it's with this disappointed scowl, like someone gave him the wrong offspring."

"You're thinking about this wrong." Edna soothed.

"Yes, it's not so much what you look like; it's what's inside that he can't stand."

"Thank you, for summing that up," Jay replied sarcastically and was about to walk inside when Edna stopped him.

"Look, the point is, stop trying so hard to be something you're not."

"I just wanna be one of you guys." He mumbled before he walked inside and as he shut the door, he heard Edna sigh sadly. Jay waited until he heard both of them leave before he ran out the back door. He had a Fire Dragonblood to find...

* * *

While Jay was looking for the dragonblood he'd shot down, back in Ninjago, things weren't going too well. Almost everyone on the island was gathered in the throne hall to once again try and figure out what to do about the dragonblood attacks. Cliff was sat on a throne in front of everyone, listening to their complaints and trying to think of a solution, but coming up empty. The throne hall was probably one of the most beautiful and strongest buildings on the entire island.

It was one of the first things built when people first came to the island of Ninjago.

Bulky braziers half enclosing each of the sixteen basalt columns lit up every part of the throne hall. They helped radiate warmth across the entire hall. The stained glass of the windows in the terraced ceiling danced in the flickering light. Marble icons and memorials looked down upon the grey wood floor of this throne hall. A light, thick, turquoise rug ran down from the single throne at the far end of the throne hall to the giant dark oak doors that lead out into the village.

The long rug helped mark the closest spot where the people of Ninjago could stand when they addressed Ninjago's rulers while forked banners with embellished tracery on the walls.

Between each banner sat a small alter full of tall candles. All but a few have been lit and in turn, illuminated the mosaics of conquerors and victors below them. Wide, stained glass windows depicting ancient legends were contoured by veils colored the same turquoise as the banners. The curtains had been adorned with embellished borders and decorating tips. A dignified throne made of strong, shining iron sat in front of a giant painting of the previous ruler.

It was adjoined by two smaller and less elaborate seats for visiting dignitaries.

The throne was covered in symmetric etchings and fixed on each of the broad ears was an elegant star. The bulky pillows were a light turquoise color like the rug and it had also been adorned with gilded tassels. Those wishing to listen to their leader could do so on the few brightly decorated brass benches. All of which are facing the throne in a half-circle. Those of higher standing can instead take a seat in the extravagant balconies overlooking the throne.

"Either we finish them, or they'll finish us! It's the only way we'll be rid of them! If we find the nest and destroy it, the dragonbloods will leave and they'll find another home!" Cliff exclaimed. "All I'm saying is that we do one more search, before the ice sets in."

"But those ships never come back!" A man from the crowd cried and a few others mumbled in agreement.

"We're warriors and this is OUR home! It's an occupational hazard! Now, who's coming with me?!" He yelled, but no one in the entire hall made an effort to agree with him. "Alright, those who stay will look after Jay." He said and instantly everyone's hands shot up and they all shouted in agreement. Cliff sighed and the crowd left, leaving Cliff and Ed alone.

"Right, I'll pack my tools," Ed said and made to leave.

"No, I need you and Edna to stay and train some new recruits."

"Oh, perfect and while we're busy, Jay can cover the shop," Ed replied a little sarcastically. "Molten steel, razor-sharp blades, lots of time to himself... what could possibly go wrong?"

"What am I going to do with him, Ed?" He sighed.

"Put him in training with the others."

"No, I'm serious."

"So am I."

"He'd be killed before you let the first dragonblood out of its cage."

"You don't know that."

"I do know that."

"No, you don't."

"No, actually, I do."

"No, you don't!"

"Listen, you know what he's like! From the time he could crawl he's been... different." He growled and, having heard the story millions of times, Ed just sat there let Cliff continue his rant. "He doesn't listen, he has the attention span of a sparrow... I take him fishing and he goes hunting for... for geckles!"

"Geckles exist! They steal your socks!" Ed said. "But only the left ones; what's with that?"

"When I was a boy, my father told me to bang my head against a rock, and I did it, I thought it was crazy, but I didn't question him and you know what happened?"

"You got a headache?"

"That rock split in two." He replied, almost in awe of the memory. "It taught me what a man could really do, he could crush mountains, level forests, tame seas! Even as a boy, I knew what I was, what I had to become; Jay is not that boy."

"You can't stop him, Cliff, you can only prepare him," Ed said, but Cliff sighed and looked away. "Look, I know it seems hopeless, but the truth is you won't always be around to protect him, he's going to get out there again, he's probably out there now."...

* * *

Jay groaned in frustration as he trudged through the thick forest near the other side of the island from the village. He had been out there all day and there was still no sign of the dragonblood he had shot out of the sky last night. Grabbing his notepad, Jay crossed out another area on his sketch of the area where he believed the dragonblood and landed. That basically left him with an island of crosses. Jay was certain the gods hated him. He still couldn't believe that he had lost a whole dragonblood.

All of a sudden he tripped over a tree root sticking out of the ground and went rolling down a hill.

When he opened his eyes he was on his back, staring up at the sky through the tree branches. His eyes widened when he saw nearly half a tree was blown off. He looked to his left and saw the ground looking like a battlefield. He followed the trail of destruction up a hill. When he got to the top of the hill he saw something big and red and he quickly ducked down in fear. Slowly he looked over the top of the hill and gulped. Laying at the bottom of the hill on its side was a red and gold creature tangled in his bola.

He quickly realized it was the dragonblood he had shot down last night.

A Fire Dragonblood. Even from this distance, he could feel the heat radiating from the monster. Jay quickly pulled out the small blade his father gave him should he ever need to defend himself and carefully walked down the hill towards the still creature. For a brief second, Jay thought it was dead. Thankfully he could very clearly see the beast's chest rising and falling with every breath it took. However, his foot suddenly slipped on the grass and he cried out as he rolled down the hill to a large boulder next to the beast.

He stood up, gripped the dagger, and took a deep breath to try and calm his frightened nerves.

He slowly walked around the large boulder that was his only cover against the large red creature and got a good look at the dragonblood. It had bright red, armor-like skin with glowing gold highlights and was almost twice Jay's size. The insides of its large wings were a shining amber that seemed to have specks of glitter embedded into them. They remained Jay of the glowing golds and reds in a burning fire. The dragonblood seemed to be unconscious, not making any move to show it knew Jay was there.

As he examined the situation, Jay felt a smile grow on his face as he lowered the dagger.

"Wow, I...I did it! I did it! Ohh...this fixes everything, YES!" He grinned, lifting his leg onto the creature's chest. "I have brought down this mighty beast!"

**_"Does he always step on people when there unconscious?"_ **

As soon as he heard that, Jay jumped back, screaming. The dragonblood looked unconscious, but the ginger-haired teen swore he had heard something. He raised his dagger again and proceeded with caution. Jay slowly looked at its face his blue eyes locked with amber. It raised its head, looking directly into Jay's eyes. Jay took a deep breath and exhaled, remembering what he was here to do.

"I'm going to kill you, monster, and then, I'm going to take your hide back to my father." He stated as he looked it straight in the eyes and raised his dagger, ready for the kill. The dragonblood lowered its head again, resting against the soil, and closing its eyes. It looked so expectant, so ready to die. Jay, looking slightly confused, lowered his dagger again. He glanced around the small crash site, studying the scene when it all suddenly dawned on him.

In horror, the ginger-haired teen stepped backward away from the beast.

He had done this. He was about to turn around and leave but stopped. If he left it here, someone else would find it eventually. Jay looked back to the creature, knowing there was only one thing to do. Quickly, he knelt down by its stomach and started to cut through the bola's ropes. He didn't see the dragonblood's eyes snap open when it realized what was going on as the ropes around it loosened. Before Jay had time to blink the dragonblood shot up from the ground and pinned him against the boulder.

It opened its mouth, ready to fire. Jay held his breath and closed his eyes tightly, waiting for the fiery death to come and claim him.

Suddenly the dragonblood roared loudly into his pale face and flew lopsidedly off into the forest, leaving the human unharmed. Jay opened his eyes and breathed a huge sigh of relief as he placed a hand over his still racing heart. He stood up to leave but barely took two steps before collapsing in shock...


	3. Training

It was late into the night when Jay eventually got home. Cliff was sitting by the fireplace, putting on an extra piece of wood. Jay shut the door as quietly as possible and tip-toed over to the stairs leading to his room. He was almost at the top, then he could go to bed and forget about this whole day.

"Jay." Cliff suddenly said and the teen froze halfway up to stairs.

"Dad, ahh... I need to talk to you."

"I need to speak with you too, son." He replied and turned to face his son.

"You go first."

"Alright, you get your wish." He said. "You start Dragon Training in the morning."

"Oh, man, I knew I should've gone first!" Jay exclaimed loudly in a panic. "Uh because I was thinking, you know, we have a surplus of dragon fighters, but do we have enough bread makers or small home repairers?"

"You'll need this," Cliff said as if Jay hadn't said a word and passed him an ax. A look of horror dawned on Jay's face.

"I don't want to fight dragonbloods!"

"Come on; yes, you do." Cliff chuckled before walking off.

"Dad, I can't kill dragonbloods!" Jay cried as he followed him, struggling not to drop the ax.

"But you will kill dragonbloods."

"No, I'm really very extra sure that I won't."

"It's time, Jay."

"Can you not hear me?!"

"This is serious, son!" Cliff exclaimed, losing his patience. "When you carry this ax, you carry all of us with you, which means you walk like us, you talk like us, you think like us; no more of... this."

"You just gestured to all of me," Jay muttered, slightly hurt.

"Deal?"

"This conversation is feeling very one-sided."

"DEAL?!" Cliff raised his voice and Jay sighed in defeat.

"Deal."

"Good." He nodded as he grabbed his large travel bag. "Train hard and I'll be back... probably."

"And I'll be here, maybe." Jay sighed as Cliff left, leaving his son standing alone in the house still holding the oversized ax...

* * *

"Welcome to Dragon Training!" Edna beamed as she and her husband led Cole, Dareth, Ronin, Plundar, and Harumi into the arena at the far end of Ninjago. The arena was a large stone pit with a chain net over the top to prevent the dragonbloods from transforming into their dragon forms and flying away. Opposite the entrance were several large doors made of vengestone that held captured dragonbloods. Almost all of the adults had left the night before to try and locate the dragonbloods' nest.

A few adults and warriors had stayed behind to protect Ninjago just in case any dragonblood attacks happened but at this time of year that was very rare.

"This is going to be awesome!" Dareth said in his usual cheery tone.

"Yeah, no kidding." A miserable voice said from behind them. They turned around and saw Jay Gordon following them into the arena. "Pain; love it." He added dryly.

"Let's get started!" Ed interrupted before anyone could comment about Jay being there. "The warrior who does best will get the honor of killing their first dragonblood in front of the entire island." He explained and Plundar raised his hand.

"Um, Jay already killed a Fire Dragonblood, so...does that disqualify him or something?" He smirked and the gang walked off, talking amongst themselves, leaving a blushing Jay alone.

"Don't worry deary." Edna smiled as she and Ed tried to cheer the teen up with one of their famous pep talks.

"Yes, you're small and weak, that'll make you less of a target; they'll see you as sick and pointless, and go after the stronger looking warriors," Ed said and Jay suppressed a groan. Edna knew what she was talking about but her husband should stick with his day job.

"Sorry, I'm late." A strange voice suddenly said and everyone turned to see a boy their age running through the doors to the arena, holding a white spear. The new kid had platinum blonde, almost snowy white, hair that stood up straight in something like a crew cut and bright icy blue eyes. He wore white pants and shoes with a long-sleeved, cyan blue shirt under a navy blue knitted vest.

"It's alright deary, you're here now." Edna smiled before turning to the group. "Everyone, this is Zane, he's new to Ninjago and I want you to make him feel right at home." She explained and they all nodded. Zane walked over to Jay and held out a hand.

"Hello, I'm Zane." He greeted and Jay accepted the hand and shook back.

"I'm Jay Gordon." He smiled and Ed cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention.

"Today you will learn to fight and defeat all types of Dragonbloods such as the indestructible Shadow, the monstrous Venomari, the horrifying Ice, the hideous Earth, the savage Wind, and, the brutal Lightning; let's gets get started." He smiled and grabbed the lever for the Lightning Dragonblood's cage.

"Whoa! Wait! Aren't you going to teach us something first?!" Plundar panicked.

"Sorry, but I firmly believe in learning on the job." He replied and pressed a button above the lever. The group saw a light under the door as a female's scream of pain echoed through the arena. A second later the screams morphed into animalistic growls and roars. As soon as the light faded Ed released the Lightning Dragonblood in its dragon form. This was the first time Jay or any of the group had gotten a clear view of a dragonblood in the light of day.

Fierce bright violet eyes sat within the creature's narrow, hard skull, which gave the creature a menacing-looking appearance.

Several small central horns sat atop its head, just above its tiny, angular ears. A row of horns ran down the sides of each of its jawlines. Its nose was small and had two narrow, rounded nostrils. Four large teeth poke out from the side of its mouth and show a glimpse of the terror hiding inside. A thin neck ran down from its head and into a lean, dark blue, muscular body. The top was covered in smooth skin and a row of small, light cyan spiked growths ran down its spine that looked like bolts of lightning.

Its bottom was covered in thick purple skin and was colored much darker than the rest of its body.

Four slim, long limbs carried its body and allowed the creature to stand towering above the teens and dignified. Each limb had six digits, each of which ended in thick nails seemingly made of bone. Terrifying wings grew to start from just above its shoulders and ended just past its shoulder blades. The wings were scythe-shaped, the edges of the skin inside the wings were tattered and damaged and long tendril-like growths grew from many parts of the bottom sides of each wing.

Its massive tail ended in a fan-like tip and was covered in the same smooth skin as its body.

The beast seemed to be a little disoriented before it shook its head and quickly regained its senses. As soon as it realized what was happening and that it was surrounded by teenagers, it screeched loudly as it opened its wings and flew around the arena. Everyone ran as Ed and Edna shouted over Dareth's frantic screaming.

"Today's lesson is about survival," Ed called out. "If it attacks you, you're dead!"

"Now, what's the first thing you're gonna need?" Edna asked loudly.

"A doctor?" Jay gulped.

"Shield!" Cole shouted as he ran for the pile of shields nearby and everyone followed him.

"Well done Cole." Edna praised. "If given a choice between a shield or a sword, go for the shield."

"Now, this Lightning Dragonblood has enough power in it for six blasts, it's last man standing," Ed explained as everyone grabbed a shield the spines on the Lightning Dragonblood's back started to glow. The dragonblood opened it's mouth suddenly shot a blast of bright electricity at them. The blast hit Dareth and Ronin's shields, destroying them almost instantly. Harumi went to strike the dragonblood down but had to dive to avoid another blast.

Before she could recover, she was smacked into Plunder and they both slammed the wall of the arena by its powerful tail.

While Zane took cover by the rack of shields, Jay and Cole were standing at the other side of the arena.

"So I guess it's just you and me?" Jay chuckled nervously to Cole.

"Nope, just you." He replied, cold as ever, before running off. He was confused for a second and before Jay could do anything, however, there was a powerful blast of lightning that knocked its shield out of Jay's hands. The dragonblood pinned him against the wall with its mouth wide open, ready to fire. Jay's mind flashed back to the Fire Dragonblood in the woods, but he doubted this dragonblood would spare him. Before the creature could fire, Ed and Edna suddenly appeared threw some of the tools Ed carried around in his belt at the beast.

A wrench hit it on the head and it screamed in pain before the couple managed to drag it back into its cage.

"Jay, are you okay?" Zane asked as he ran out from behind his cover. He leaned over the ginger-haired teen and offered a hand. He accepted and he helped Jay up to his feet. As Edna checked everyone over for any serious injuries, Ed made sure the cage was secure before turning to the group of teens, who were all panting in exhaustion.

"Well done children, you survived your first day of training, just remember, a dragonblood will always go for the kill." He said, giving Jay a pointed look before they all made their way out of the arena. Jay looked at his now destroyed shield and his eyes narrowed...

* * *

"So why didn't you?" Jay mused as he knelt in the clearing he found the Fire Dragonblood in, staring at the shredded net. He studied the ground where the beast had been lying, damage still evident from when it had jumped him. If what Ed said was really true, that a dragonblood would always go for the kill, then why wasn't he dead? As Jay stood up about to leave, something glittered out the corner of his eye. Frowning in confusion, he walked over to the object, half covered in soil.

Brushing it off, he realized it was a red scale lined with shining gold.

He lifted it up when another scale shined in the sun a few meters off. He walked over and grabbed it. Scanning the area, he saw that there were more scales, leading off like a trail of breadcrumbs. Carefully, he followed the path picking up each piece along the way. It eventually led him to a clearing. Sunlight spilled through the thick canopy of the beautiful green weeping willow trees. Clearwater flowed into a small lake, with a variety of fish swimming in the sparkling freshwater.

Erosion had left it all in what looked like a hollowed-out bowl with ten-meter high walls of solid rock.

Jay was lucky he had found the path near the bottom because even some of the best would have trouble climbing up. A bloody jacket lay near his feet. He knelt down and studied the red leather when a winged shadow suddenly passed over him followed by an ear-wrenching scream. Jay let out a small cry in fear and quickly dove back into the safety of the covered path. Looking up, the dragonblood he had saved, desperately trying to climb up the cliff face.

The creature was covered in cuts and bruises, slowly sliding back down to the ground.

Just as Jay thought the dragon was going to fall to its death, it stretched out its wings and glided back to the ground. He was amazed, even injured the dragon was one of the most beautiful creatures he'd ever seen. Picking his way carefully, Jay half climbed, half skid towards another large rock jutting out from the cliff. He lay down against the rock so he wouldn't be so obvious and watched the creature. He memorized the dragon's body, getting a proper look at it.

Narrow, glowing amber eyes sat gracefully within the creature's angular, horned skull, which gave the creature a rather intimidating looking appearance.

It had tiny, dog-like ears and its nose was flat with two wide, angular nostrils. When it opened its mouth Jay saw rows of small, sharp teeth. A short neck ran down from its head and into a long, crimson, muscular body. The top of its body was covered in thick red scales that were lined with gold, just like the ones Jay had found a few minutes ago. Its bottom was covered in warped scales and is colored lighter than the rest of its body. Four mighty limbs carried its body and allowed the creature to stand arrogantly and proud.

Each limb had five digits, each of which ends in small claws seemingly made of amber crystals.

Massive wings grew from just below its shoulders and ended at the end of its shoulder blades. The wings were bat-like, the inside was a bright gold color and almost entirely see-through, especially when they were viewed from a distance. Its simple tail ended in a fan-like end and was covered in the same red and gold scales as the rest of its body. Jay noticed that the left side of its tail fan was missing but shrugged it off, thinking that was normal for Fire Dragonbloods.

The dragon slithered towards a fallen log and climbed onto it.

Using its body in a spring-like movement, it opened its wings and flew a few meters off the ground before nearly colliding with a cliff wall. It turned too sharply to avoid the wall and as a result crashing back to the ground. It tried to climb up once more but appeared to give up, lying motionless on the soil. A bright glow filled the clearing and Jay tightly shut his eyes to protect them from the light. When he opened them and looked back, the dragon was gone.

Instead, a boy was lying there, breathing heavily.

It took Jay less than a second to realize it was the beast's human form. Taking advantage of the once in life-time situation, Jay grabbed his notebook and quickly drew a rough sketch of the dragonblood. Even in human form, he had many cuts and bruises, and Jay was certain the discarded red jacket was the dragonblood's. In its human form, the dragonblood looked to be around Jay's age. The stranger had tall, thick spiky brown hair, shaped like fire, and bright amber eyes that shined like burning embers.

He had a focused expression on his face, with a scar visible on his right eyebrow.

He wore a white shirt with some brown pants. He had a few scars over his tanned skin, showing that he had been in a few fights in his life. Actually, Jay thought he didn't look too bad. He quickly shook those disturbing thoughts away and continued to watch. The brunette got up and winced, before limping over to the edge of the lake. Using its hands to scoop up water, it drank slowly. Jay frowned; a creature so amazing should never be so helpless.

"Why not just...fly away?" He muttered.

After a few minutes of nothing happening, Jay sighed, letting his hand loosen its grip on the pen, a little too much. The pen slipped from his grasp and before he could catch it fell to the ground. The brunette saw it and looked up, right at Jay. The ginger-haired teen stood up and took a step back, afraid it was going to attack him again, but it just stood there, staring. Jay took a few more steps back, and when the dragonblood showed no signs of moving, he ran off as fast as his legs could carry him...


	4. Knowledge

After getting away from the Fire Dragonblood, Jay returned to Ninjago and walked up to the great hall. This was where everything happened; tournaments, meetings and this is where everyone ate. They could eat in their homes but many people preferred to eat with all their friends and family. As he walked in, Jay could hear Ed giving everyone a theory lesson as Edna served them some dinner.

"All right, where did Cole go wrong in the ring today?"

"I rushed to my left when I should have moved to the right, that would have to give me the perfect opening; it was a stupid mistake," Cole growled.

"No no, you were great!" Zane smiled, trying to make more friends.

"Cole's right." Ed corrected. "You need to be tough on yourselves, now, where did Jay go wrong?" He asked as the freckled teen stumbled over to an empty table with a small plate of food, ignoring the looks and muffled snickers from the others.

"He showed up." Harumi laughed.

"He didn't get eaten," Dareth smirked

"He's never where we should be." Cole glared at him.

"Thank you for that answer, Cole." Ed sighed as he walked over to an old massive book on a pedestal in the corner, picked it up, and dropped it on the table the others were sitting at. "You kids need to live and breathe all this stuff, now, this is the dragonblood guide, it contains everything we know about every dragonblood species we know of." He explained he dropped the book on the table for the teens. While the others looked at the cover of the old book, Edna looked out one of the windows of the hall as thunder clapped loudly overhead.

"No attacks tonight, you youngsters study up." She instructed before she walked off with her husband as Harumi gave the older couple a horrified look.

"Wait, you want us to read?" She cried. "Why read words when you can just smurf the stuff the words tell you about?"

"I've read it seven times." Dareth smiled and Ronin had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. "There's this dragonblood that can mimic your form, and there's this other one that-"

"Yeah, that sounds great, there was a chance I'd read it but not now." Plundar sighed before he and Harumi left for their huts. Ronin sighed before he and Dareth stood up and followed them out, leaving Zane and Cole alone at the table. Jay waited for a moment before he nervously walked over to them and gulped.

"S-So I guess we'll share?" He grinned.

"Read it already," Cole said as he pushed the book to the other two and walked away.

"I will read it with you if you want to?" Zane offered.

"Sure." Jay grinned, that was the first time someone had actually said yes. Jay took a seat and Zane opened the book to the first chapter.

"Dragonblood classifications: Strike Class, Fear Class, Mystery Class." Zane read out loud.

"Sound Dragonbloods: This reclusive dragonblood inhabits caves and isolated areas," Jay added. "When startled, the Sound Dragonblood produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range; extremely dangerous, kill on sight."

"Speed Dragonbloods: This lean creature has razor-sharp wings that can slice through full-grown trees and it is said that they can reach top speeds of 360 mph; extremely dangerous, kill on sight.

"Nature Dragonbloods: Shoots razor-sharp leaves at its victims; extremely dangerous."

"Poison Dragonbloods: Even newly hatched dragonbloods can spray acid; kill on sight." Jay groaned as they continued to flip through the hundreds of pages. He flinched and grimaced at the sight of disturbing illustrations of dragonbloods in their dragon forms attacking and slaughtering humans. After a few minutes of reading, Jay took the chance to find out about the creature that was currently stuck in a bowl of rock

"So, what do you know about Fire Dragonbloods?" He asked casually, only to look confused when he saw Zane's face grow solemn and the blonde closed the book.

"I know about them, I've never actually seen one; but their cold, cruel, vile creatures, and every last one of them should be wiped from this planet." He spat venomously. Jay looked down to the cover of the book, knowing he'd probably regret what he was about to say.

"You sound like you speak from experience." He muttered and Zane looked away from him so he couldn't see his eyes.

"My mother and my little brother; they were both killed by a Fire Dragonblood, they didn't do anything, people told me they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time." He growled and Jay felt his eyes tear up as he covered his mouth with his hand.

"I'm so sorry Zane."

"It's alright Jay, that's why I asked my father if we could move here," Zane replied as he looked right at the ginger, and Jay could have sworn he almost didn't recognize him. There was a murderous glint to his eyes, all traces of the gentle boy Jay knew gone. "If I ever find the Fire Dragonblood, I am going to be the one to kill it; pure and simple, revenge." He seethed, his eyes appearing icier than before. Jay held his breath and tried not to look into those insane eyes.

Sensing his unease, Zane sighed, before putting on one of his signature smiles.

"I am sorry for my outburst Jay, but I best be off before my father worries." He stood up smiling, looking like the old Zane again. "Well, it was nice chatting with you, see you tomorrow!" He said and walked towards the exit and waved. Jay waved back, trying to be polite to his only friend on this island. He shut the door, and Jay let out the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding in. That was absolutely terrifying. He looked around and noticed for the first time that while they had been talking, everyone had left.

He stood up and re-lit a few candles in case anyone else came into the hall, before sitting back down with the book.

Taking a few more deep breaths, he opened the book like it was a new chapter of his life. He kept reading, the fear in his chest slowly becoming more and more evident with his racing heart. A flash of thunder suddenly rolled in the distance and Jay screamed. He turned towards the door as lighting flashed temporarily lighting the dark, silent room. Realizing it was nothing to fear, yet anyway, he slowly turned back to the old book about the many types of dragonbloods.

He flicked through the pages, the drawing of dragonbloods seeming to come to life on the pages.

The more he read, the more disturbing the drawings became. Jay's eyes widened in fear, and he was certain he was going to suffer a stroke with how fast it was beating. He turned the pages as fast as possible but the more gruesome facts still seemed to jump out at him. He read how dragonbloods stole from their victims, stabbed their victims, or tortured their victims. Just as he was about to slam the book shut and hide away in his bed, a seemingly blank page came up.

At first, Jay thought it was a type of error, but looking at the top of the page he saw a single word printed in fine black ink that made his face pale in terror.

"Fire Dragonbloods." He read-out-loud, dread, and fear evident in his voice. He looked at the bottom of the page, and sure enough, there was the information. Unfortunately, its strength was unknown and its speed was also unknown. The book described this dangerous beast as the unholy offspring of power and death itself. The book strongly advised that no one should ever challenge this monster, their only chance was to hide and pray it does not find them.

Jay reached into his pocket and pulled out his notepad.

Opening to the page of his most recent sketch, he placed the smaller book down in the large space under the title of the Fire Dragonbloods' blank page. The drawing sat slightly crooked on the nearly blank page like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, only without a box to look at. Jay had always liked puzzles. Even with all the terrifying stories about how dangerous this dragonblood was, he looked forward to completing this one...

* * *

A group of large boats slowly cut through the dark, misty waters. While most of them dragged behind the largest one, a fine white ship led the group, like a pack of wolves going in for the kill. A massive cloud of fog confronted the boats like a solid wall, and the ships came to a stop a few meters away. Cliff Gordon stood at a table on the deck, closely studying a map of the known world.

"I can almost smell them, they're close." He frowned as he turned towards the fog wall that was only shown as a large, swirling grey mass on the map. He called to the others and the boats moved along the wall for a few more minutes, before Cliff gave the command. The others aboard started screaming orders around the grand boat.

"Hard to port! For the Devil's Gate."

"Hard to port!"

All the ships turned and slowly moved into the thick of the fog. For a split second, nothing could be seen or heard. A bright flash lit the sky and a dragon's shape could be seen in the fog followed by people screaming...


	5. More Training

Today was another day of Ed and Edna's a-grade teachings. The arena had been turned into a maze, full of wooden walls that reached high over the group of teens' heads. If that wasn't enough, a fully armed Ice Dragonblood was hiding somewhere within the walls, lurking around corners ready to attack and freeze any poor unfortunate victim. There was a cold chill in the air and specks of frost along the maze walls. This did nothing to help the teens locate the beast, however, so they were all walking on eggshells.

Occasionally, they would hear the creature's deep, chilling growls and the scrapping of its claws against the floor.

This did not help the group's growing anxiety. As everyone ran around, Jay stopped in what seemingly safe place and looked up towards Ed and Edna. They were both sat in one of the boxes just above the arena, watching the teens run around like lab rats.

"Hey Ed, I just happened to notice the book had nothing on Fire Dragonbloods." He called up to them. "Is there another book, or a sequel? Or maybe a little pamphlet?" He asked when all of a sudden, the Ice Dragonblood appeared out of nowhere and sent a sphere of ice at him, hitting his shield and causing a few large shards of ice to grow on it. Jay quickly jumped out of the way and started running away.

"Focus sonny-boy! I don't think you're even trying anymore!" Ed shouted as the dragonblood walked around the corner and looked at Jay in the eyes. He gulped when he got a good look at the cold monster standing over him. Piercing emerald eyes sat elegantly within its hard skull, which gave the creature a menacing-looking appearance. Two thin horns sat atop its head, just above its small, pointy ears. Small fan-like skin and bone structures ran down the sides of its jawline.

Its nose was stubby and had two long, curved nostrils.

Several rows of sharp teeth sat inside its mouth and gave a preview of the terror hiding inside. A skinny neck ran down from its head and into a slender body. Jay could feel the freezing cold air coming from the beast. The top was covered in radiant purple and snowy white scales and a row of small crystal-like spines ran down its spine. Its bottom was covered in white rounded scales. Two slender limbs easily carried its slim body and allowed the creature to stand dignified and illustrious above the humans in the maze.

Each limb had six digits, each of which ended in barbed claws seemingly made of ice.

Terrifying wings grew from above its shoulders and ended just past its shoulder blades. The wings were bat-like and a specialized layer of seemingly color-changing skin made up most of the wing. Armor-like scales grew on top of the large wing's primary bones. Its thick tail ended in a gentle point and was covered in the same radiant scales as the rest of its large body. Jay gulped when he saw the clear sadistic look in its green eyes. Zane may have scared him last night, but Jay doubted even the devil could pull off a look that evil.

He ran off as the ice shards that grew on his shield broke off, the Ice Dragonblood hot on his trail.

"Today it's all about the attack!" Ed's voice boomed over the maze through a megaphone. After running for a few minutes, Jay turned around, and not seeing the creature, he stopped to breathe. A shriek rang out overhead and Jay looked straight up. The Ice Dragonblood was crouched on the maze wall in a cat-like position, at least five meters off the ground. It bared its teeth at him mischievously and he had to resist screaming before running off.

The walls creaked with the extra weight of the creature running on the tops.

"An Ice Dragonblood is swift and strong both physically and mentally, your job is to be swifter and stronger," Edna explained loudly to the terrified teens. The walls stopped groaning as the dragonblood paused. It seemed to look around for a minute, before seeing Harumi and running towards her. The girl screamed before sprinting back into the maze. Losing its prey, the creature drew its head back and fired a large, sharp, shard of ice towards the first moving object it saw.

Zane yelped as the shard just missed his head.

"I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" He cried, but the older couple just ignored the comment.

"Look for its blind spot! Every dragonblood has one when in its dragon form, find it, hide in it and strike!" Edna called out. Jay ran through a four-way intersection in the maze, when Dareth and Plundar turned and ran back the way he came, almost colliding with the Ice Dragonblood. Plundar quickly stepped back as the dragonblood stepped forward. Dareth was frozen in fear so Plundar had to lean back against him. Plundar went to sidestep the beast but the Ice Dragonblood blocked his way, growling lowly.

It copied his every move, like a twisted mirror.

Dareth breathed in deeply but soon regretted it.

"Ugh... Do you ever bathe?" He gagged, unable to breathe, pushing Plundar forward in hopes that it would clear the air.

"If you don't like it, then just get your own blind spot." Plundar snapped impatiently, elbowing the brunette, and Dareth pushed him back forward. Plundar got ready to punch him, grabbing his collar, when the dragonblood growled louder. They both froze, remembering they weren't exactly out of danger. The creature fired an icy blast at the pair. Plundar managed to drag not only himself, but Dareth out of the way and Edna sighed in relief when she saw they were unharmed.

The others ran ahead, but Jay stopped just in front of Ed and Edna.

"So how do you sneak up on a Fire Dragonblood?" He asked.

"No one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale; now, GET IN THERE!" Ed exclaimed.

"I know, I know, but hypothetically-"

"Jay!" Someone suddenly hissed to his left, trying to get his attention but also trying to stay quiet at the same time. He looked to his left and saw Ronin and Cole were kneeling down near the far corner, the latter glaring at him. Cole carefully looked around the corner, quickly ducked back after almost making eye contact with the dragonblood. It was looking around, yet didn't see Cole and Ronin both army roll to behind the next corner. Jay went to move in a similar fashion, but the weight of the shield he was carrying stopped him mid-roll, and successfully caught the beast's attention.

It snarled at him, and he ran off screaming.

The creature jumped back up onto the walls, leaping two walls and landing near Cole and Ronin. Just as Cole was about to strike the monster with his hammer, Ronin pushed him aside. He quickly shot an arrow at the creature, but the arrows did nothing but annoy the dragonblood. It chased after them, enjoying the hunt and using powerful ice attacks at random, resulting in the massive wooden walls to fall over like dominos. While this was happening, Jay was still trying to get information out of Ed and Edna, barely noticing the commotion.

"Has anyone ever seen one napping?" He asked as the others ran past, some bumping into him.

"Jay!" Edna suddenly cried, but it was too late. The Ice Dragonblood was in sharp pursuit of Cole, knocking over most walls of the maze in the process. The raven-haired teen managed to get a boost by jumping off a wall that was about to fall. One problem though, Jay was in his landing area. Cole completely flattened him, both of their shields flying everywhere. The others looked, laughing at them. Cole quickly jumped off the smaller teen and looked for something to strike the Ice Dragonblood with before it attacked them.

He looked up and saw the dragonblood charging straight towards them.

In a panic, Cole grabbed Jay's shield and slammed it into the beast's face with his amazing strength. The creature just about fell over but regained its footing before running off back into its cage. Edna quickly locked it inside as Ed looked over at all their students and saw the arena in complete ruins.

"Nice thinking, Cole." He praised before going to check on the others, and Cole stood there, panting from the adrenaline. He then turned to face Jay, and he did not look pleased. He threw the now broken duel disk at the freckled boy's feet.

"Is this some kind of a sick joke to you?" He snarled. "Our parents' war is about to become ours, figure out which side you're on!" He snapped before he walked off with the others, leaving Jay alone. He stood up and dusted himself off just as Ed and Edna were about to leave. The old couple gave him a look before walking away as well...


	6. A Tasty Treat

The sun was shining through the willow trees, reflecting off the sparkling freshwater lake. Jay walked down the path, almost invisible behind a new shield he'd taken from the shop when Ed and Edna were out. He was also carrying a large fish that he'd taken from the village's supplies just before he left. Coming towards the bottom, he stopped and carefully looked over the shield. Not seeing any signs of movement, he threw a large fish into the clearing.

After nothing moved and after a few minutes, he went to walk into the silent clearing.

At least, he tried to. The large shield on his skinny arm got caught between the two massive boulders that make up the pathway. After trying to pull it out, he gave up and abandon the oversized shield. He ducked under it and walking into the clearing armed only with his small dagger. At least the Fire Dragonblood couldn't get out using this path now. Jay picked up the fish and looked around, proceeding with caution. Even though there was a chance the dragonblood had left, one could never be too safe.

He turned around and walked into the more open space.

He was so nervous that he failed to see a bruised dragonblood in its human form hiding on one of the taller rocks just out of his line of vision. It watched the human in silence, studying him as if trying to decide whether he was a threat or not. Jay slowly turned back around as it stood up. He jumped and it watched him more, before hesitantly climbing down. They simply stared at each other and Jay finally noticed how different and interesting the creature's human form looked up close.

Pushing those thoughts away, Jay held out the fish.

The dragonblood studied him before taking a small step forward followed by another. It was almost within an arm's length now before it suddenly jumped back, glaring at him and emitting a low, threatening growl from its throat. Jay also jumped back in fear and pulled his arm back, automatically reaching for the small dagger hoisted safely in his belt. The growling increased at the sight of the dagger and everything clicked. The Fire Dragon, the most powerful and dangerous of all the dragonbloods, was afraid the weak human teenager cowering in front of it was going to attack.

Jay reached to the dagger, his fingers brushing over the handle when the beast's mouth started glowing with red and amber flames, ready to fire.

He took a few steps back, terrified, as the dragonblood glared at him. Before the dragonblood could attack, he quickly grabbed the dagger and dropped it. The beast glared at him still before motioning with its head to kick it away. He quickly picked up the blade and threw it into the pond with a small splash. It looked at him for a second, when all its features slowly softened. It just looked at him now, confused, and still cautious. Jay took a deep breath, trying to relax himself a bit, holding out the large fish again, and, like last time, the dragonblood slowly walked forward.

It reached its arm out hesitantly, ready to flee if the freckled teen tried anything.

The beast suddenly ripped the fish from his hand and started tearing into it as Jay jumped back with a yelp of fear. He watched as the brunette ate the fish, seeming to forget Jay even existed. At first, Jay was disgusted at the thought of eating raw fish but then he saw the rosy glow in the creature's cheeks. He quickly realized that it was cooking the fish in its mouth with its fire while it ate. A smirk slowly grew on the dragonblood's face and Jay could only guess the fish tasted good.

It turned back to the freckled teen and walked closer, scanning for any more food.

Jay tried to run off but tripped over his own shoe, crawling until his back came up against a rock and he was cornered.

"No, no no no." He whimpered in terror as the dragonblood kept coming closer. He tried getting further away from the creature but the boulder wasn't in a cooperative mood. "I don't have anymore." He whispered. The beast watched him, and right as Jay thought he was gonna die, the creature backed away. He didn't dare move as it started gagging violently. It suddenly coughed up the half-eaten remains of the fish Jay had given him right into Jay's lap before leaning back.

It started watching him with an almost human look.

Jay had to cover his mouth with his hand to stop from throwing up himself over the half-eaten fish. The dragonblood looked at Jay, then to the fish in his lap, and back to Jay. He followed its beautiful amber eyes and saw what it was trying to say. He almost threw up again but didn't want to anger the beast in case it attacked. Begrudgingly, he slowly scooped the slimy fish as best he could before stuffing it into his mouth. Despite all instincts telling him to spit it out, he swallowed it and gagged.

Once he was sure he wasn't going to throw up, he looked back at the Fire Dragonblood and gave it a weak smile.

The brunette seemed to study the expression, and slowly its lip curved up and it smiled back. Well, it was more of a smirk but it still made Jay feel pretty special. The ginger-haired teen slowly stood up and hesitantly walked towards the creature. He was almost within touching distance of the dragonbloods when its smile fell and a glow filled the clearing, forcing Jay to cover his eyes. He looked up in time to see the dragonblood in its dragon form fly over the lake.

The creature seemed to be flying on a funny angle, and Jay cringed as it came to a crash landing on the other side of the lake.

The light flashed over the area again, but it was dim enough for him to watch. The dragonblood took human form again but wobbled, and for a second Jay thought he was gonna pass out. He paused for a moment, wondering when he started referring to it as a 'he'. Thankfully, he stopped himself from completely falling over but still fell to a kneeling position. Jay could hear him breathing heavily from where he was standing, at least 250 meters away.

The creature was panting, trying to stop himself from passing out in exhaustion.

He knew that he shouldn't have changed form, but that boy got too close. He couldn't believe he had almost let that boy get too close. It was so stupid and could have cost him his life. His chest ached from the strain of changing and flying. The brunette curled up into a protective ball, sighing. He just needed a minute's rest. He had almost closed his eyes when a small blue jaybird hopping around on a branch caught his eye. It flew off, and the beast turned to go back to sleep when directly in his line of vision was Jay.

He was sitting a few meters off with a stupid grin.

He waved at the brunette, and he turned around to face the cliff walls. Even though he wasn't watching, he could hear Jay move closer. Now to the dragonblood, this kid was a lot of things, annoying, stupid, slightly on the cute side, but he wasn't going to be a threat any time soon. A bank wouldn't need alarms; the neighbors would hear his footsteps. The dragonblood waited until he was almost hovering over his arm when he whipped around to look over his shoulder.

Jay quickly turned and walked off awkwardly, but the tanned male still stood up and walked off in the other direction.

He managed to find a small gap between one of the trees and a large rock, and against all his better instincts he climbed into the hole and almost fell asleep straight away. To say it was very uncomfortable was an understatement of the year. He made an internal promise that as soon as he got his full powers back he was gonna blow up all these forsaken rocks. He didn't know how long he had slept, but when he woke up the sun was beginning to set.

Looking around, he was genuinely surprised to see Jay was still there, sitting across the lake.

He had a stick in his hand, drawing scribbles into the dirt. The brunette carefully crawled out of his sleepy hole and walked over to the teen. He heard the ginger-haired teen inhale sharply, so he knew he was aware of his presence. Jay continued his drawings never the less, tracing the dragonblood's shadow and drawing on a face. The creature smirked and looked down at Jay. He looked far too weak to be a warrior. The Fire Dragonblood doubted he even knew how to kill.

Well, since the freckled teen had been so nice shooting him down and getting him stuck here, the brunette decided to give him his own private lesson, Fire style.

He walked over to a near-dead tree and tried to pull off a branch, but since he was stronger than a normal human he ended up with half the tree. He wasn't as strong as an Earth, Metal, or Energy Dragonblood, but he was still tough. The Fire Dragonblood dragged the branch around, making a series of patterns in the dirt. Jay stopped and watched him, a confused look on his face. The brunette smirked, and once satisfied stood outside the maze in the dirt.

He watched as Jay looked around; trying to figure out if this was some sort of trap.

When he decided it wasn't he tried to walk out, but he stepped on the line and the beast growled before charging at him. He jumped back and the creature stopped. After a second of awkward silence, he tried stepping on the line again. He growled threateningly again but stopped as soon as he moved his foot again. He tested his theory once more before stepping over the line. This time the dragonblood didn't move and he smiled. He turned around again and again and increased his speed as the creature watched in amusement.

After a minute or two he finally got out of the maze, but he was so caught up in not getting attacked he didn't realize the dragonblood was right behind him.

He yawned and the ginger-haired teen jumped, turning around to face him. It was then Jay noticed that not only was the dragonblood around his age but he was also around his height. He was a few inches taller, but that might be thanks to his spiky brown hair. He looked at the slightly taller teen before slowly expending his hand. The brunette started to growl and Jay shut his eyes in fear. The Fire Dragonblood stopped growling but Jay still had his eyes closed.

If he attacked the human he'd have no way of defending himself.

The tanned teen had to stop himself from rolling his eyes, this boy had too much faith. Hesitantly, he placed his hand in Jay's and they both froze. They stood like that for a second, before the brunette slowly started to shake Jay's hand. Jay opened his eyes and looked at him, the human's grin slowly growing. The dragonblood rolled his eyes, showing him it wasn't such a big deal. The first time a human and a dragonblood ever locked eyes and didn't kill each other, plus made contact not for the purpose of killing each other.

History being re-written with a simple handshake.

No big deal what so ever. After a few awkward moments, Jay looked at his feet and started to go red.

"Hi... My name's Jay." He said nervously and the dragonblood burned the name into the back of his mind.

"Hey Jay, my name's Kai." He replied, catching Jay off guard. That was the first time he had ever heard a dragonblood speak, he didn't even know they could speak, even in human form. Meanwhile, Kai was mentally slapping himself. He wasn't supposed to say that, but the damage had been done. He dropped Jay's hand and walked off. Jay just grinned, before walking up to his little trail and heading back to the main city...


	7. A Faulty Tail

That night, Ed and Edna had the gang sat around a campfire, roasting their dinner. All eyes were on Ed, who was telling a story most had heard millions of times and could probably retell it backward. While Edna was passing out the food, Ed was telling his story and Plundar was mouthing it behind his back as the others tried to hold in their laughter. As they listened to the gory details, Zane paled and had a look of disgust.

"Then, out of nowhere, the biggest dragonblood you've ever appeared! Its hide was littered with the weapons of fallen warriors, his face scarred, with one eye; the warrior raised her sword and woosh! With one swipe her sword shattered and then her head was bitten clean off! Down the monster's throat it went, the beast has never been seen since, and is roaming the wilds waiting its chance of revenge!"

"I'll chop the head of every dragonblood I fight!" Harumi smirked, but Edna shook her head.

"No deary, it's the wings and the tails you need to go for, if they can't fly then they can't get away, and then the dragonblood would be like sitting ducks, and a downed dragonblood is a dead dragonblood." She explained and Jay's eyes widened in horrifying realization when he thought back to Kai in his dragon form. The way he flew crookedly and when he hadn't left the cove yet. While everyone was talking about the different ways to kill a dragonblood, he ran off while they were talking.

He was in such a rush he didn't see that Cole saw him leave.

He almost looked like he was going to follow him, but Ronin called him back to the others. Jay continued running into the darkness towards the blacksmith shop, knowing this was going to be a long night...

* * *

Jay ran as fast as he could into the blacksmith shop at the far end of the village. Firing up the furnace and opening his notepad to the sketch on Kai in his dragon form, he got to work. He knew he wasn't as skilled as Ed and Edna yet, but he thought he'd do well enough to get the job done. He found a long piece of metal he thought would be perfect for what he wanted to make. It was very thin and light but it was incredibly strong. He hoped this would do the trick.

After hearing what Edna said about how a dragonblood was unable to fly with an injured tail or wings, Jay had headed to the forge late at night.

He was going to make a brand new tail-fin for Kai to replace the one the Fire Dragonblood had lost when had been he was shot down since it was his fault. Looking carefully at the drawing of the dragon's tailfin, Jay began to carefully forge it into the shape he wanted. He worked well into the night and it was a miracle nobody came by. As the early morning sun began to rise over the icy sea, Jay wiped the sweat off his brow and smiled at his handy work...

* * *

Once he was sure the new tail fin was ready, Jay packed it up and hoped that all his hard work was worth it. About three hours after the sun had risen, Ed had come into the blacksmith shop and kicked Jay out. It was the one day of the week they didn't have any training and since Jay couldn't go back to sleep, he decided to go to the cove. Soon Jay was back at the cove, with the prosthetic fin under his arm. As he climbed down into the cove where he last saw Kai, he frowned in confusion when he saw Kai was nowhere to be seen in the bowl.

"Hey, Kai, are you still here?" He called out, wondering if the brunette had left in the night.

"And where else would I be, genius?" A familiar voice asked sarcastically. Jay looked up and there Kai was, sat perched upon a humongous rock with a bored look on his face.

"Why are you always up there?" Jay asked and Kai leaned back, his head falling over the side of the boulder to face the human.

"If I'm always up here when why do you need to ask where I am?" He asked and Jay sighed in frustration, even though Kai had a point. With a smug grin, Kai sat back up and continued with whatever he was doing before Jay arrived.

"Could you please come down?"

"Hmm... No," Kai replied. The lack of sleep and frustration was starting to get to Jay, so he was not in the mood for the dragonblood's little mind games, especially since he had worked all night to try and help Kai regain what he had lost.

"Please?"

"But if I climb down I'll have to climb all the way back up later." He whined like a child and that was the final straw for Jay. If Kai wanted to play a dumb game, he'd play along. Walking a few feet away, Jay felt a smirk starting to grow on his freckled face.

"Fine, I guess I'll just have to keep this then." He shrugged and gestured to the tail fin he'd left on the ground a few feet away, still wrapped up so Kai's couldn't see what it was. When he saw Kai glance over, Jay unwrapped the prosthetic fin, and suddenly he had Kai's undivided attention.

"What is that?"

"Well, I saw that you were missing a tail fin." He replied, flinching when he saw Kai's expression saddened. He realized that to a dragonblood it must feel like losing a limb. "I worked all night to make you this." He added and properly showed the prosthetic fin to Kai. The next thing Jay knew, Kai had him in a headlock, cutting off my air supply.

"Kai!"

"Give it to me Jay." He growled as Jay struggled to breathe. Seeing this, he let go of the human's neck and stepped back, leaving Jay on the ground fighting for breath.

"What that really necessary?"

"Yes, do you know what this means?" He asked as he looked over the tailfin. The tail consisted only of a strap-on prosthetic tailfin with dark brown leather and a dark grey metal frame. "It means I can finally get out of this place." He muttered as he examined the man-made tailfin in awe and joy. That joy faded, however, when he realized he didn't have any way to attach it. He could only access his damaged tailfin when in dragon form. When in that body, however, he knew he'd be unable to put it on without the use of his human hands.

Seeing his dilemma, Jay stepped forward.

"I can put it on for you if you want?" He offered and Kai was suddenly engulfed into a bright fiery glow. Jay was forced to shield his eyes, but when the glow died down there was no sign of Kai. What was there though, was a lot more terrifying. Jay almost screamed, jumping back, before slowly calming down. It was Kai's dragon form, and he waited for Jay to do what he promised. The human quickly crept around to his damaged tail with the prosthetic tailfin.

As Kai started to become impatient, Jay carefully climbed onto his tail and started strapping on the prosthetic tailfin.

The brown color clashed with Kai's naturally crimson red scales and it was a little bigger than his real tailfin but otherwise, it was a perfect copy. As Jay smiled with pride, he failed to notice Kai freeze as he flexed his real tailfin. He felt the fake fin attached to his tail and his eyes widened in shock, realizing he might be able to fly again.

"That doesn't look too bad, hope it works," Jay muttered to himself. The second those words left his mouth, however, Kai suddenly took off into the sky. Jay screamed as he gripped onto Kai's tail tightly. The dragonblood was only able to fly a few hundred feet off the ground before he started to fall. Jay looked at the tailfin and saw it was flattened against his tail while the other one was open wide. He heard Kai yelp and glanced over his shoulder, only to scream when he saw they were heading straight for a stone wall.

Thinking quickly, Jay grunted as he opened the prosthetic tailfin like the real one was.

Kai let out a screeched roar as he suddenly flew up, missing the large stone wall by mere inches. When Jay gathered enough courage to open his eyes he laughed. They flew around the cove as Jay would adjust the prosthetic tailfin to match the real one as Kai changed positions. Kai was getting annoyed with the human boy clinging onto his tail, so when they were right over the pond, he suddenly whipped his tail sharply. The grip on his tail loosened as Jay fell into the pond with a yelp of surprise.

Now that he had his tail fixed, Kai tried flying away.

The second the human was off his tail, however, Kai growled in frustration as he found it harder to stay in the air. He looked at his tail and his eyes widened when he saw the prosthetic tailfin was flattened against his tail again. He transformed into his human form as he fell into the shallow end of the pond. When Jay surfaced he saw the brunette crawl out onto the grass, his normally spikey hair soaked and limply hanging down. He sent the ginger-haired teen a hateful glare before lying on his back on the grass to sulk as he scowled at the blue sky...


	8. Surprises

Kai growled as he thought about how much his life had gone wrong in the past few days. First, he got shot out of the sky then he got trapped in the valley with cliff faces too steep to climb. To make things worst he lost part of his tail, crippling him for life. After that, he had met the world's most pathetic looking warrior who was currently the only one that knew Kai's location. His life pretty much sucked right now, and now, whenever he wanted to fly, he needed Jay to help or he'd crash and burn.

Kai was his puppet now, even though the human would never see it like that.

All freedom had just been stripped away from the dragonblood, but then again, maybe this was then going back to the lair; to the souls, Kai had the misfortune of calling family. Either way, he was stuck here and only Jay knew that. Kai couldn't contact anyone, not that he'd want to, and if Jay told anyone he'd be as good as dead. He glanced at the teen and saw he was sitting a few feet away from him on a small rock. Jay looked like a drowned rat with his wet hair clinging to his face and his clothes darkened and dripping.

Kai could also faintly see he was shivering, but the human didn't say anything.

Kai didn't know whether to laugh or growl again. Humans were so stubborn it was frustrating.

"No one is to know I'm here." He said sternly.

"I'm not completely stupid, I know what they would do." He replied and an awkward silence followed, but suddenly Jay perked up with a small gasp, an idea written on his face almost. "How about we make a deal?" He said and Kai raised an eyebrow.

"A deal?" He asked and Jay nodded excitedly.

"We help each other out; I'll try and modify your new tail so you can fly whenever and wherever you want if you can help me." He offered and the dragonblood smirked. Jay wasn't as dumb as he looked.

"What do I have that you could possibly want?" Kai said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Jay looked away, seemingly ashamed of what he was about to ask.

"I need to pass Dragonblood training-"

"And you want me to tell you how to defeat the other dragonbloods?" Kai finish, finally understanding what the teen wanted. Jay looked terribly guilty, but Kai couldn't help but laugh. "You...want me...to..." He cackled as he tried to stop laughing, but it was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard. This was why the brunette had no idea why he said this.

"Sure." He said, out of breath from all the laughing, and Jay's eyes widened so much he thought they would pop out of his skull.

"Really?" He cried in shock and Kai shrugged.

"Why not? I tell you what you need to pass, and if I do this you can help me fly." He replied and Jay's face lit up. They shook on it, and the first truce was made between a Dragonblood and a Human was officially made. "So what will you be fighting tomorrow?" He asked, though Jay still looked guilty, yet somehow relieved Kai had agreed to help him. Kai swore he could read him like a book.

"Um... I think Edna said something about a Wind Dragonblood." He replied and Kai had to admit he was surprised by the fact. Honestly, Wind Dragonbloods may have been smaller than most, but they were incredibly fast and light on their feet, especially in the air. If the others were at Jay's level, Kai dreaded to think about what could happen.

"How many students have died?" He asked and Jay looked over at him as if he was insane.

"What?"

"A Wind Dragonblood isn't exactly weak."

"Ed told us that." He replied and Kai frowned. Jay didn't seem to understand the danger he was really in. Not that Kai cared or anything.

"Some Wind Dragonbloods can suck the air right out of your lungs." He added casually and Jay seemed fine with the new information, sitting there as if nothing happened. That is until Kai's words started to sink in and his blue eyes widened in horror.

"WHAT?!" He shrieked and started ranting as he paced back and forth in front of the Fire Dragonblood. Kai simply rolled his eyes.

"They're not that hard to defeat." He said and Jay's eyes narrowed.

"FOR YOU MAYBE!" He cried and Kai's smirk widened. To be fair, most other dragonbloods were really easy for him to beat.

"True, but to suck the air out of your lungs would take a lot of concentration and skill." He explained, not seeing how Jay paled, looking ready to pass out. When he did notice, Kai sighed. "I know it sounds bad."

"No...really?" He snapped and Kai glared at the boy, shaking his head at his failed sarcasm.

"It sounds bad, but its attack relay on movement." He explained carefully, and Jay didn't look quite as scared. "As long as you get the others not to panic and keep moving, it's weak; wipe out his defenses until there's an opening." He said and the smaller boy's face lit up like a giant weight was just taken off his shoulders. He stood back up and started to run off.

"Thanks, Kai!" He exclaimed as Kai jumped up, but he was already out of reach.

"Wait! What about the deal?!"

"Tomorrow, I promise! See ya!" He called back as he ran up the small trail between the cliffs, and even though Kai was only an inch or so taller, it was still too small for him to get out through.

"JAY!" Kai shouted but he was long gone. The brunette groaned, before walking over to a tree. The sky was starting to darken and he realized just how much time had gone by. He sighed, promising that if Jay doesn't come back tomorrow he swore he'd kill him, but deep down in the back of his mind he knew Jay wasn't the kind to break promises. So for now, all Kai could do was hope he didn't get himself killed in that stupid training thing he did...

* * *

"Today is about teamwork!" Ed called as his wife unlocked the massive cage, and before the teens could even see it fully open, they were suddenly blasted back by a powerful gust of wind. Remembering something they had all learned in pre-school, they quickly gathered into groups of two. Zane went back to back with Jay. The freckled teen was more than glad to have a better fighter on his side. As soon as everyone regained their footing, the Wind Dragonblood shot out of its cage in its dragon form.

It darted around the cage at incredible speed as Jay examined its form.

Bright emerald eyes sat rooted within the creature's thorny, scaled skull, which gave the beast a threatening-looking appearance. Several small horns sat atop its head, just above its enormous, cat-like ears. A few small fan-like skins and bone structures ran down the sides of its jawline. Its nose was small and had two long, slitted nostrils that sent out a blast of air with every breath. Several huge teeth poke out from the side of its mouth and gave a slight hint at the terror hiding inside.

A short, skinny neck ran down from its head and into a slender body.

The top was covered in dark green, almost black, curved scales and rows of fan-like growths ran down its spine and its bottom was covered in thick black scales. Four powerful limbs carried its body and allowed the creature to stand imposing and sturdy. Each limb had three digits, each of which ended in strong nails seemingly made of bone. Unlike most of them, Wind Dragonbloods didn't have wings. Instead, they used their power over the wind to propel them into the air and fly around.

Its long tail ended in a sharp, arrowhead-shaped tip and was covered in the same curved scales as its body.

"Now, if a dragonbloods wings or tails are damaged or tangled, they have difficulty flying, however, a Wind Dragonblood is extra tricky," Ed explained. "Having no wings, it relies on its control over the wind to fly, but it still needs it's tail to control its flight."

"Your job is to ground the beast before it harms you," Edna added as the dragonblood started flying around over them. It had heavy shackles around its legs to weigh it down. It could still fly but nowhere near the skill it would be if it was free. All the teens had a bola each to throw at the creature's tail. Jay didn't know why, but when scared, Zane had a habit of listing all the things that make the threat more dangerous.

"Can create gusts of winds that could travel at speeds of 173 mph, uses its powers to control clouds to help blend into the sky, so quiet you won't know it's behind you until your laying near dead..."

"Will you please stop that?" Jay hissed, already scared enough as it was. As the beast flew around above them, Ronin stupidly threw his bola at it, but it missed and hit Dareth and the younger brother fell over under the weight of the bola. He went to get up but screamed like a little girl as he was blasted by a strong gust of wind and into a wall.

"Oh, I am hurt! I am very much HURT!" The brunette cried as ran past his brother and Zane gulped, looking into the creature's eyes.

"Chances of survival are dwindling into single digits now." He muttered when the Wind Dragonblood flicked it's tail, sending a whip of air towards the pale teen, and Zane screamed while running backward towards Jay. They turned and saw dark green eyes glowed above them, and Zane got ready to throw his bola.

"Zane wait!" Jay cried, but it was too late. Zane launched his bola at the monster above them, but the dragonblood gracefully moved out the way and dodged Cole's bola as well, just like Kai had warned Jay about. Zane's bola clattered to the ground and he laughed nervously as the long dragonblood finally landed on the ground to face the teens. Up close, it looked strong enough to kill them all in one blow.

"Woops..." Zane gulped as it fired its most powerful blast of wind yet to finish him off and Edna jumped.

"Zane!" She screamed in fear. Jay didn't know how, but the tall albino managed to commando roll out of the way. The blast missed him and he managed to run out of the arena where the others were taking cover since they were all out of bolas as well. So now it was just Jay and the monster. Ed looked over to the others, and after seeing them safe turned back to the ginger-haired teen.

"Now Jay!" He cried. Jay was about to throw his bola when the Wind Dragonblood suddenly charged him. He went to dodge, but tripped up, causing the bola to fall out of his hands and slide across the floor, leaving him completely defenseless. Everyone watched him and his brain worked overtime as Kai's words played in his head. Jay held his breath, and everyone else did too, as the teen pounced for the bola. The beast kept firing smaller blasts of air at him, trying to knock him off his feet.

Jay followed Kai's instructions and kept moving around and never stayed in one place too long so the dragonblood couldn't land a hit.

As soon as he grabbed it, Jay threw the bola and by some miracle, it hit its target. Everyone watched in shock as the bola wrapped tightly around the end of the dragonblood's tail, trapping it and grounding the beast. The whole monster seemed to shudder, before jumping up to try and make one last escape attempt. It was in vain, however, and it ended up falling to the arena's ground with a heavy thud. Jay allowed a small smile of self-pride to grow on his face at taking down such a strong dragonblood.

The creature tensed, and everyone watched in awe as Jay herded it back into the cage.

It wanted to fire a blast at him, but it was too scared and couldn't fly to give it an advantage.

"Back, back, back!" He exclaimed loudly. Another step forward, another step back. The Wind Dragonblood glared at him, all it could do was back away from the small human. The others slowly walked forward as well, with looks of shock on their faces. Cole actually looked distressed; he'd not been able to do such a feat. Soon the dragonblood was finally backed into the corner of the cage.

"Now, don't you make me tell you again! Yes, that's right, ack into your cage; now think about what you've done." He grinned as he shut the cage doors. He quickly locked them and once he was sure the beast was secured, he turned back to see the others. They were all frozen in amazement, Zane actually dropped his shield. Jay was slightly creeped out by their expressions. They were looking at him as if he was the monster.

"Okay...so are we done? 'Cause I've got some things I need to do..." He said nervously but no-one moved, and it was hard to tell if they were even breathing. "Yep, I'll see you tomorrow!" He said and ran out of the arena as fast as he could, and could feel the daggers being glared into his back. Right now, however, he needed to go see Kai, for Jay was not one to break his promises...


	9. Late

"Kai!" Jay shouted as he ran down the path and into the valley, looking for the Fire Dragonblood. It was almost sunset soon and Jay had spent the last couple of hours making a saddle to help him help Kai fly. Now he was here to present Kai with the saddle, but the dragonblood was nowhere in sight. "Kai! Where are you?!"

"Keep your voice down runt." An irritated voice said. Jay grinned and turned around and saw Kai was perched on that boulder that Jay had seen him on earlier. "Looks like you didn't die after all."

"Nope, didn't die yet." He smiled and Kai sighed, almost sounding disappointed, before jumping down from the giant rock and landing next to the human.

"Alright... so are you going to help me fly?"

"Yes sir." He nodded. Kai rolled his eyes, and Jay could just tell this was going to be the start of a 'beautiful' friendship. Kai suddenly transformed into his dragon form and waited for Jay to do whatever it was he needed to do. Moving every carefully, Jay equipped the saddle to the large red dragon. It was a little tight but otherwise fitted perfectly. He inspected the prosthetic tail fin as he tied a long rope to it so he could change its position while sitting on the saddle.

From what he could tell, it was holding up nicely, but there was only one way to know for sure.

He needed to get Kai to fly. He took a deep, possible last breath before he jumped onto the creature's back. He froze as Kai shifted under him before settling down and he immediately knew what the human wanted. He held onto the front of the saddle tighter as Kai opened his wings and suddenly they were charging towards the water. Jay screamed at the top of his lung, squeezing his eyes shut as Kai headed straight for the water. Instead of being drenched as he expected, however, he felt Kai flap his wings and they were flying.

Jay opened one eye and he saw they were flying just inches above the water, leaving a spray of water behind them.

He gasped, looking down at the lake and seeing their reflections on the mirror flat surface. To be honest, it was the most exciting experience he'd ever had. He could almost feel Kai laughing at his expression, but he didn't care. He leaned closer to the water, but the shift of weight caused him to tug the rope controlling the prosthetic tail fin. Kai felt himself suddenly tip to the side and let out a panicked roar as he fell into the lake, dragging Jay down with him.

They both hit the water, and Jay kicked himself back to the surface.

Keeping his head above the water, he saw Kai come up next to him in his human form. He looked over at Jay and they both swam over to shore. Part of Jay's fringe flopped down right between his eyes and he turned to face Kai, but the brunette wasn't having much better luck. All his hair was drooping down, and they were both soaked through and through. Their eyes locked, and suddenly they were both laughing their heads off.

"You've never ridden a horse or anything like that before, have you?"

"I rode a donkey when I was six or seven, but not without a saddle!" He exclaimed as they kept laughing until Jay's eyes were watery and his stomach hurt that much it wasn't funny. They both finally stopped laughing and were gasping for air.

"We still have a long way to go." Kai sighed and Jay nodded his head in agreement.

"Never been more right." He agreed and Kai sighed again, looking out over the lake.

"What are you practicing against tomorrow?"

"Um...I think we're fighting a Lightning Dragonbloos again, but that shouldn't be too hard." He shrugged, trying not to show how scared he really was. They both looked to the sky, and Jay noticed time had flown by in the blink of an eye again. "I should be going if I want to be home before dark." He groaned. Kai looked over at him and nodded in agreement.

"So you should, I guess I'll be seeing you here same time tomorrow."

"Yeah." He nodded as he stood up and walked over to the path between the cliff walls of the valley. "See ya later, Kai!" He called out as the dragonblood got up and grunted.

"See ya Jaybird."...

* * *

Jay panted as ran into the arena, thankfully not tripping up once on the way there. The others were just finishing off the lesson and he saw Ed forcing the angry dragonblood back into a cage while Edna tended to any injuries the students had received. Hearing his rushing footsteps, Ronin turned around and saw the ginger-haired teen enter.

"Well, look who decided to wake up." He laughed and Ed turned around, glaring at Jay.

"You're late sonny-boy." He scolded and Jay cringed under the harsh look.

"Sorry, I overslept!" He lied and everyone groaned as Ed just sighed.

"You're lucky Cole managed to defeat the Lightning Dragonblood by himself." Edna praised the raven-haired teen and Jay's eyes widen, looking over at Cole.

"You actually killed it?"

"I would've if Ed and Edna hadn't stopped me." He snorted and Ed put his hands on his hips.

"Well if you'd killed it I would've had to go out and risk my life trying to capture another one; class dismissed!" He called and everyone started to walk off, but Zane stayed behind with Jay.

"So... did I miss anything in particular?" He asked and Zane gave him the 'what am I going to do with you' look.

"Not really, just search and destroy."

"Ohh..." He muttered as they walked out of the building, everyone else long gone. The village was like a ghost town, with pretty much everyone gone looking for the dragonbloods' lair.

"What were you doing up so late?" Zane suddenly asked and Jay froze, not expecting the question, and not really having a good excuse.

"Um... It's an... ongoing project thingy I'm working on." He stuttered nervously. Zane didn't look at all convinced, but he just shrugged nonetheless.

"Just... don't do anything too dangerous okay?" He almost begged and Jay reluctantly nodded. Helping the strongest dragonblood known to man defiantly wasn't dangerous at all.

"I won't." He promised and Zane smiled weakly. Jay looked at the sky and could tell it was already late. "Oh, crap." He cursed and started running. "It was nice talking to you Zane!"

"Jay wait!" Zane called after him, but the freckled teen didn't stop running. Kai was gonna have his head for this...

* * *

Jay was so late that he was sure Kai was fast asleep by now. After loitering around the entrance of the cove he decided he'd at least check to see if he was safely asleep. As he carefully climbed down into the cove, he froze when he saw Kai sat there, staring at him with his stunning amber eyes. It was like he had heard him coming a mile away and had sat there waiting for him.

"You're late."

"I know I'm late and I'm sorry." He smiled sheepishly as he put down a bag full of fish for him.

"I'm not hungry, I need to fly."

"Shouldn't you eat first?" He asked. "You need to keep your strength up in case you crash again."

"I only crashed 'cause you're a crap driver." He growled, but his expression softened when he saw Jay flinch. "If you get better, then we'll cook all these fish and enjoy some dinner together." He offered and Jay nodded in agreement. As soon as Kai transformed, Jay carefully adjusted the prosthetic tailfin. Instead of holding the rope, he tied the end to his left ankle so he could hold onto the saddle with both hands. Hopefully, they had better results.

He still didn't have a proper way to hold onto the creature so he knew he'd have to hang onto the saddle tightly.

The second he thought Jay was secure enough on his back, the dragonblood spread its wings and with a single, powerful flap, they were off the ground.

"Wait, Kai! Slow down, please!" Jay cried as they flew straight up. His knuckles were turning white due to how hard he was gripping the edge of the saddle. As the wind blew in his face, he looked around at the nightly forest, taking in the view. Before he could do anything else, however, Jay was suddenly blown off the dragonblood's back and into the open air. Without Jay to help control his tailfin, Kai also fell to the ground with him. They both screamed in fear as they fell.

Kai suddenly transformed back into his human form, leaving Jay with nothing to hold onto as they fell to the ground.

As they fell, something fell out of Kai's pocket, the brunette tried to grab it but he missed. All he could do was hope that Jay caught it for him. By some strange miracle, they managed to land on the shallow muddy part of the bank. Jay quickly sat up and looked over at Kai. The Fire Dragonblood had landed face down in the mud, and for a split second Jay was afraid he had injured himself but then Kai pushed himself up, wiping mud out of his eyes.

He looked over at the freckled teen, and Jay couldn't help but laugh at his expression.

There was mud all over his face except where he'd wiped it off his eyes. Jay kept laughing and Kai just groaned, before burying his face in the mud again.

"We're going to need to make some improvements." He said in frustration, his voice muffled by the mud when suddenly his head shot up and he looked at Jay with wide eyes. "Please tell me you caught the blade."

"Um..." He trailed off, not really sure what to say. They were falling out of the sky so no he did not have time to catch a blade. "I... didn't catch it." He said and Kai looked at him like he had just committed a crime. He quickly sat up and washed the mud off his face, before running out of the mud.

"Alright, did you see where it went?!" He exclaimed, the distress clear in his voice. Jay just sat there in shock. He had never seen Kai so stressed out and over something silly as a blade. He stood up and tried to wipe some of the mud off.

"I think it was over there." He said and pointed to a patch of grass and Kai walked over, getting on his knees and looking for the blade. Jay walked over and tried to help if the blade meant that much to Kai. After ten minutes of searching, Kai sighed relieved, picking the small blade up and Jay got a good look at it. A fairly small, wide, slightly curved blade made of silver was held by a grip wrapped in extravagant, maroon boar hide. With just a razor-sharp point the weapon would make sure its enemies were full of holes with deadly speed and precision.

The blade had a barbed, curved cross-guard, adding weight to the blade for a better weight balance, as well as offering hand protection during battle.

The cross-guard had a jeweled curl on each side, a clear sign this weapon belonged to a champion. A small pommel was decorated with a single rare red gem, fancy decorations for a fancy sword. The blade itself was engraved. Several runes were etched into the blade along with some inscriptions in a language Jay didn't understand. Jay managed to hold back a laugh when he saw Kai's face. He looked so relieved and glad.

"It's just a knife, isn't it?" He asked, not sure why Kai was so upset at the thought of losing it. Kai looked over at him and looked like he had just asked him the world's best-kept secret.

"Yeah, just a knife." He muttered as he stood up and walked off. looking kinda sad. Jay decided it would probably be best to leave now.

"Well...see ya tomorrow."

"See ya."...


	10. Flower Power

When Jay walked into the blacksmith's shop he looked at the clock. Since he had left Kai slightly earlier than usual, he had a few hours to himself but he didn't know what to do with that time. He sighed and finally looked himself over. First, he would need to get out of these clothes. The once blue fabric was now hidden under layer upon layer of mud. After getting changed and having a quick shower, he sat down on the soft couch, thinking of what to do next.

His brain and bruises acted as one and he came up with a brilliant idea.

He really needed to figure out a way to stop falling off when they were flying and how to properly control Kai's prothetic tailfin. A light bulb turned on over his head and he ran around the workshop. First, he needed to figure out a way to keep from falling off Wisp's back as he feared that one of them could be very hurt if it continued happening. He gathered all the materials he thought he'd need and began working. As he worked to modify the saddle and tailfin, he took some inspiration from horse saddles.

He was particularly interested in how the riders steered the horses and stayed on their backs.

Eventually, the whole thing evolved to include a series of gears, pulleys, and cables controlled by a foot pedal mounted on a saddle from which Jay could sit and control the pedal. He had also constructed a leather flying harness that attached to Kai's saddle so he didn't fall off anymore. After he was sure it finished, Jay had to find a place to store it all until he saw Kai again. He quickly stuffed it all into a large, empty chest that he knew neither Ed nor Edna ever opened or even noticed.

Once he had hidden all of the evidence he tossed a small blue tarp over the chest to hide it for good measure.

The next time he would go to see Kai he could test it and he hoped Kai liked it.

"I hope this works."

"What do you want to use, Jay?" A voice suddenly asked and he nearly jumped out of his own skin, turning to see Ed standing in the doorway right behind him.

"Ed, please don't sneak up on me like that!" He exclaimed as the silver-haired man rolled his eyes.

"Just what exactly are you doing up so late, and here of all places?" He asked and Jay tensed, before mentally cursing. He really needed to start thinking of good excuses before people asked him any more questions.

"Um... well with winter on the way and... I thought it would be... best to make sure all our armors kept us warm." He stuttered, lying through his teeth, but luckily Ed didn't seem to notice.

"Yes... wouldn't want a repeat of last year."

"You don't have to bring that up every five seconds!"

"Yes, but I still can't believe you put a steel helmet through a washing machine." He chuckled and Jay facepalmed. That was by far the most embarrassing moment of his life. Ed sighed as he stopped laughing, before looking at his watch.

"You should be getting home sonny-boy, it may be a later class, but you'll be sleeping till wee hours of the afternoon staying up this late at night."

"Late class?"

"Yes Jay, as in a class we have in the afternoon instead of the morning." He replied and Jay grinned. The later start meant he would probably get to see Kai earlier.

"That's great!"

"Yes, maybe you'll be on time for once, now go to bed!" He ordered kindly and Jay quickly ran out of the store. When he did get home, Jay was too lazy to change into his pajamas' so he collapsed on the bed before crawling under the blankets, welcoming the warmth they supplied. As he started drifting off to sleep Jay started to wonder if Kai got cold at night. He thought he'd ask him tomorrow, but for now, the teen could barely keep his tired eyes open...

* * *

"Ready?" Jay asked as he sat on Kai's back while the brunette was in his dragon form. When he showed Kai the new saddle and harness, he had been very impressed, although he did a good job hiding most of it. The dragonblood gave a low rumbling sound in his throat as a form of agreement before he took off, and Jay held his breath, praying not to fall off again. For the first time in history, they actually managed to fly out of the valley without falling.

Jay sat on his back, controlling the dragonblood's tailfin, and deep down he was loving every second of it.

He looked down over the land below them and marveled at the beauty. He decided to try and adjust the tailfin's position. When he did, however, the dragonblood's wing suddenly closed in closer to his body on instinct, and before he could scream, they were diving down to the ground. Jay held onto Kai's saddle, not realizing they were about to crash. His eyes blurred with the wind created by the speed they were going at, and he felt the air being drawn from his chest.

They crashed into a field, Jay being thrown away from Kai in the impact.

The ginger-haired teen quickly sat up and realized they had landed in a field full of many different, colorful flowers. Jay inhaled deeply, enjoying the smell when he heard Kai swearing in many different languages. He followed the sound of his voice and found the dragonblood in his human form a few meters off, holding his nose and still cursing.

"What is it?"

"Flowers!" He exclaimed and Jay tilted his head to the side confused.

"Flowers?" He asked and Kai glared at him, accidentally moving his hand from his nose.

"When Dragonbloods smell flowers..." He started but slowly stopped talking, and looked at the human teen. The look on his face was almost that of a drunk when suddenly he fell backward.

"Kai!" Jay cried out in fear as he ran over to his fiery friend and sighed in relief when he saw the steady rise and fall of his chest telling him he was still breathing. Looking more closely, Jay started laughing. The great Fire Dragonblood was sleeping like a little baby. He looked at the different purple and white plants surrounding them and picked up a handful. They were Jasmine and Lavender flowers. Grinning, Jay pocketed the plants, knowing this could come in handy.

Kai murmured something in his sleep and Jay groaned, now realizing his newest problem.

"Please don't tell me I need to drag you all the way back!" He groaned but received no comment from Kai. He sighed, grabbed Kai's feet, and started dragging him towards what he hoped was the end of the field. Kai may have looked light, looks could be deceiving. After dragging Kai for about ten minutes, he noticed the flowers were beginning to lessen in number. Kai started to stir and Jay dropped his feet, standing a little away from the dragonblood.

Slowly, the brunette pushed himself up onto his elbows and looked over at the freckled teen, before groaning as if he had just woken up from the worst hangover ever.

Jay felt a small smile grace his lips but tried to hide it from Kai. Kai looked just about ready to fall asleep again and Jay couldn't help himself from asking.

"What do you give another Dragonblood on Valentine's day?" He joked and Kai groaned, shaking his head.

"Be quiet." He said and tried to stand up but tripped over his own two feet. Jay ran over and managed to help stop him from completely falling over again. "I HATE flowers."

"Yeah, I can see that." He replied as he helped him stand up, and with him leaning on Jay for support and they both managed to exit the flower-covered hell. "Just one of those days that makes you want to stop and smell the roses?" He asked, trying to ease the tension and Kai sighed, playfully hit him over the head.

"Alright, if we fly back then you run you'll make it back on time for class." He said. Jay's eyes widened as he looked at his watch, seeing he had about ten minutes before class started. Kai had to flinch and cover his ears as Jay shrieked a curse to the sky...

* * *

Running over to the battle arena, Jay saw the others waiting outside and sighed relieved. At least he made it this time, even though he only had a few seconds left to spare. Zane saw him and walked over, looking very amused by his panting.

"Looks like you just ran a marathon Jay." He smiled and Jay shook his head, sweat dripping down.

"My legs aren't made for running... actually I don't know what they're made for." He panted, completely out of breath. Zane laughed and Ed showed up to unlock the arena. Before most of them had walked in an Earth Dragonblood had been released from its cage and was already having fun trying to kill them before they could pull a weapon. Jay gulped as he stared at the large creature. The books talking about dragonbloods didn't do it justice.

Large emerald eyes sat lightly within the creature's hard, hard skull, which gave the creature a very ominous looking appearance.

Several enormous central horns sat atop its head, just above its long, cat-like ears. Small, strong, sharp bone structures ran down the sides of its jawline. Its nose was round and had two small, angular nostrils and there was a small crystal growth on its chin. A few large teeth poked out from the side of its mouth. A large neck ran down from its head and into a bulky body. The top of its body was covered in dark brown and black coarse skin and rows of sharp, rocky growths ran down its spine and its bottom was covered in narrow, bright orange scales.

Four muscular limbs carried its body and allowed the creature to stand towering and mighty.

Each limb had six digits, each of which ended in spiny talons seemingly made of obsidian. Monstrous wings grew from it's back and looked like they could block out the sun. The wings were somewhat triangular, a specialized layer of skin was all that's visible inside and armor-like scales grew on top of the wing's primary bones. Its long tail ended in a hammer-like growth and was covered in the same massive scales as its body. Ronin was already hobbling outside and Dareth followed his brother, claiming to be making sure he was alright.

Harumi hadn't even shown up for class and Plundar had just got himself thrown across the arena by the beast's giant tail.

The Earth Dragonblood looked right at Jay and charged forward. He closed his eyes and tensed, holding out his hand and hiding the flowers under his fingers. The creature almost attacked but came to a stop right in front of him. Jay slowly opened his eyes as the large dragonblood fell over in a deep slumber. A few seconds later its dragon form faded away and Jay was faced with a middle-aged man. He had shaggy dark brown hair, a large bushy beard, earthy brown skin, and large muscles that were much bigger than Cole's.

Almost all his body was covered in scars, more than Kai had.

All he was wearing was a black loincloth and dark brown sandals. He also had silver, rusty shackles around his wrists and ankles. Jay slowly sidestepped around the sleeping creature, trying to ignore the growing crowds above. He had almost walked past the sleeping beast but stopped when something caught his eye and he stopped, holding back a laugh. The Earth Dragonblood was soundly sucking his thumb in his sleep.

"Class dismissed, excellent work sonny-boy!" Ed exclaimed as he and Edna dragged the dragonblood back into his cage. All the teens left the large stadium, but unlike usual everyone was surrounding Jay.

"That was amazing!" Plundar exclaimed

"I've never seen a dragonblood do that!" Dareth agreed. As they kept praising him, Jau realized that since the class was so short, he would be able to see Kai again if he hurried.

"Um... I left my knife in the arena, you guys go on ahead; I'll catch up with you later." He said nervously as he turned around and almost ran into Cole, before weaving around the older boy and running towards the large building they had all just left to try and make his story believable. If he had turned around, he would have seen Zane and Cole shoot each other look. However, Jay was too busy trying to figure out the fastest way to the valley to care...


	11. Caught Red Handed

"Hey there Kai!" Jay called out as he ran into the valley. The Fire Dragonblood looked up in surprise from his special blade, which he had been cleaning for who knows how long.

"Jaybird, to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you again?"

"Class was unusually short today, want to know why?" He grinned and the dragonblood examined him closely. His eyes suddenly shot wide open and motioned for the freckled teen to stop walking.

"You used flowers to knock out the dragonblood and I know that because they're still in your pocket!" He snarled and Jay reached into his pocket and felt the petals of the flowers brush against his fingers. He chuckled nervously as he walked back up the path and quickly threw the small flowers away. After making sure they wouldn't come back in the valley's direction, he walked back down the trail.

"How did you know they were in my pocket?"

"Flowers are like smoke to dragonbloods, we can smell them in the air but as long as they don't get too close nothing will happen."

"Then why didn't you notice when we crashed?"

"We were flying with the wind so the smell was blown away from us and I wasn't expecting to go left until you drove us into it." He glared lightly and Jay almost laughed at the mistake he had made this morning.

"Sorry about that."

"I guess it was partly my mistake." Kai sighed. "We should both be more careful, it could've turned out much worse."

"How?" He frowned.

"Well, while I was growing up sometimes I would hear stories about younger dragonbloods accidentally crashing into fields like that one, and falling asleep." He explained. "They can't wake up because they're constantly surrounded by the plants, and no-one can go get them out or else they'll end up just like them, so they just lay there sleeping... slowly dying."

"Oh..." Jay muttered sadly. They sat in silence for a minute or two, almost as if they were remembering the unfortunate ones. Kai broke the silence, and for a moment Jay wishes he had recorded the following line.

"Well, I guess you kinda saved me back there so...um..." He trailed off and made a coughing sound, but Jay defiantly heard him mutter a quick thank you under his breath.

"What was that?" He smirked but Kai looked away, almost ashamed of himself.

"I didn't say anything." He huffed and Jay started laughing as the dragonblood rolled his eyes. Sometimes Kai really did just act like a kid, and even though Jay hadn't known him for long it just seemed so out of character.

"What? What's so funny?" He asked, giving the ginger-haired teen a serious look, Jay wasn't affected.

"You act like such a little kid at times!"

"What do you mean sometimes? For all you know I could run around this pit chasing butterflies and making daisy chains." He counted and Jay immediately stopped laughing.

"Do you really?" He asked and Kai gave a look that said what do you think and Jay just sighed, lying down to try and stop himself from giggling again. The thought of Kai skipping around making daisy chains had him in stitches.

"Do dragonbloods have any other general weaknesses?" He suddenly asked and Kai raised his eyebrows at the question.

"Why should I tell you?"

"Pwease?" He begged as gave him a look that has never failed before, puppy eyes. Kai sighed, before scooting closer to him. He stuck his thumb out and placed it just below Jay's ear.

"There."

"So what does that do exactly?" He asked and Kai seemed to hesitate for a moment.

"A gentle pinch there will knock any dragonblood out cold, not just asleep, unconscious... takes at least an hour or two to wear off... and it only works on their right side."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but try not to use it too much." He warned and Jay couldn't help but grin, trying to casually put his arm around Kai's neck, but of course, the brunette noticed, standing up. "No, you don't." He growled and Jay's grin widened as he stood up. Kai smirked, before suddenly running off. Jay smiled, chasing after the Fire Dragonblood.

Even just on foot, though, he was much faster than Jay.

Kai played with him like a cat with a ball of yarn, letting him get close enough to catch up to him before sprinting off again, but it was pretty fun, and Jay swore sometimes he almost reached him without him noticing. Kai darted around a tree, Jau following, but he didn't see some of the roots sticking out of the ground and tripped, bringing Kai down with him.

It took them a second to realize what had happened, but Jay managed to jump closer to Kai before he got up.

"You're not getting away this time!"

"No, don't!" He growled playfully as Jay tried to reach for his neck while he hit the human's arms away. They were both laughing the whole time, and after a few minutes Jay gave up.

"You win." He laughed breathlessly.

"I always win." He smirked arrogantly and Jay rolled his eyes. Neither of them went to get up, so they just lay under the old tree, silently enjoying each other's company.

"It was pretty cool when the Earth Dragonblood fell asleep; no-one knew how I did it."

"Really?" He asked, his voice wasn't sarcastic at all, he sounded genuinely surprised by the fact.

"Yeah, I doubt anyone else even know dragonbloods fall asleep around flowers."

"Seriously? No one's ever wondered why we stay clear of the florist or any places with large flower beds?"

"Nope, I guess since things can be destroyed from a distance they never made the connection." He shrugged and he heard the brunette chuckled, and mumble something like about stupid humans, but Jay didn't protest, because looking back on it, he realized it was a pretty big thing to just overlook. It wasn't like everyone had a lot of flowers, but places that did were rarely robbed or burned down.

While he was thinking, Jay remembered something he had been meaning to ask the Fire Dragonblood for a while now.

"Do you ever get cold here?" He asked as he looked over at the brunette, who looked back at him in confusion.

"What makes you ask?"

"Just curious."

"Well... to be honest, it's an improvement from where I usually stay, so I'm gonna have to say no."

"That's good." He sighed, looking at the horizon. The sun was beginning to set, causing the clouds to paint the sky in a beautiful pink and bright orange. It was a gorgeous sight, but like anything nice, it came with a hidden catch. Jay would have to leave now unless he wanted to walk home in the dark.

"I better go." He groaned quietly, standing up. Kai nodded, standing as well.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, bye." He smiled as he walked out of the valley and started heading home...

* * *

It was really starting to get dark by the time Jay got back into Ninjago. The smile was still on his face as he thought back about earlier, just messing around with Kai like they had been friends for years, at least, he hoped they were now friends. It would be nice if they could just spend more days like that, but they both had more important things to worry about. For Jay, it was not dying in that ridiculous training. For Kai, Jay guessed it was learning to fly again and getting back to the dragonbloods' secret lair.

Jay couldn't help but shudder at the thought.

After spending so long with Kai sometimes it was hard to believe he really was a dragonblood, let alone one of the most feared Ninjago had ever known. Jay was almost at his house when he walked past the arena and saw the door wide open. Edna never forgot to lock the door, Ed maybe, but not his wife. Even if she did she would never leave it wide open. Jay's mind told him to ignore it but his curiosity got the better of him. As quiet as physically possible, he crept through the door.

The lights were still off and it looked like no one was here, but Jay listened anyway.

The sound of gentle footsteps came from the stairway to the booth Ed and Edna watched their lessons from. Jay held his breath, walking over towards the stairs. He suddenly turned to face the culprit, and almost passed out relieved when he realized who it was.

"Zane, what are you doing here?" He hissed and the paler teen nearly jumped out of his skin, looking over his shoulder at Jay.

"Jay! Don't scare me like that!" He whispered.

"Sorry, just what are you doing here?" He asked. They both kept their voices to a whisper since in the near-silent arena they could hear each other fine without the need to raise them.

"Come on." Zane sighed, before motioning upstairs. He started running upstairs, two at a time, and Jay had no choice but to follow him and make sure he didn't do anything crazy.

"Zane, we really shouldn't be doing this." He cautioned but by the time he caught up to the older boy he was already standing in Ed and Edna's booth, leaning as far as possible over the rail without falling over. A small notebook was in his left hand and a pen in his right, his icy blue eyes shining with something Jay didn't understand.

"Amazing aren't they?"

"Amazing?" He asked as he followed Zane's gaze, and gasped. From here he could see the whole arena, but that wasn't the best part. He could see inside the cages where the captured dragonbloods were kept. The Wind Dragonblood was pacing around its cage, the Ice and what Jay believed to be the Poison Dragonblood appeared to be talking to each other through cages. The cutest scene to Jay, however, was the Lightning and Earth Dragonblood.

They were curled up asleep in the corner next to two each other, a wall of vengestone bars the only thing that separated them.

"It's amazing, I mean everyone says they're so vicious but if you actually manage to find them when they don't feel threatened...they just socialize and play just like humans do," Zane explained in awe. "It's so confusing; you just don't know what to believe anymore." He added as Jay looked between the cages. The dragonbloods looked like they were all in prison cells.

"Why am I suddenly ashamed to be human?" He suddenly said without really thinking and Zane laughed.

"Sometimes I felt the same way." He admitted as he closed the book and passed it to his friend. Jay couldn't help but it was similar to his own. Sketches with notes here and there, messy yet perfectly organized. "But if I managed to get enough evidence, to prove that not all dragonbloods are dangerous, we wouldn't have to fight these wars all the time." He explained and Jay looked at him in amazement. The boy who had been so sure the Fire Dragonbloods were evil, doing so much to prove dragonbloods were not all guilty.

"What 'inspired' you to do this?" He asked and Zane chuckled, before looking back over the arena.

"I just don't think it's fair that spirits are judged as a whole, it's like saying one person commits a crime so you need to throw all humans in jail." He explained and Jay knew his next question would lead to a very difficult conversation, but he just had to ask.

"Do you still think Fire Dragonbloods are bad?" He asked and Zane frowned but seemed to understand what Jay was really asking.

"If a person commits a crime, you don't through the whole human race in jail." He admitted. "You take that one individual to court, analyze the case and then reach a verdict; but I've... seen the evidence, and have already made my decision, guilty." He added coldly. Straight away Jay knew what Zane was talking about, his mother and little brother. Jay smiled sadly, before trying to lighten the mood.

"Aren't there usually 12 on a jury?" He asked and Zane laughed weakly, shaking his head.

"You certainly are a strange one Jay Gorson."

"Thank you, I do try." He smiled as Zane skim-read the page, before looking up and gasping. Jay turned to face the final two cages Zane was looking at. The Lightning Dragon had put its arms through the bars to wrap around the sleeping Earth, who had somehow fit its head through the vengestone bars and was resting on the Lightning's lap.

"Why must they make me feel so terrible for being human?" Jay groaned.

"And that brings me to the only question I cannot answer." Zane sighed and Jay looked at the boy in curiosity, and the taller teen understood the message. "They're superior to us in practically every way; strength, agility, endurance, they could easily kill us all and never have to put up with this again, et they don't." He explained as he motioned to the cages, and Jay realized it was true. "They endure all this pain, but why? Could it be they don't really want to steal from us? Or is it because they think they have enough blood on their hands? Or do they truly fear us?"

"Why must you do this to me, Zane? Now I need to know!" He exclaimed and Zane grinned, before checking the time on his cell phone.

"Sounds like we both do, but for now, sleep awaits." He said as Jay looked at his own phone and saw it was just past eleven.

"Yeah, more training tomorrow." He groaned as they both made long faces. They started walking downstairs when suddenly, they both froze and Jay felt his blood ran cold when they heard footsteps.

"Hello? Is anyone in here?" Ed's voice called out. Zane quickly ran over to the wall and slammed his fist against it. Jay turned to him, wide-eyed, wondering if he was trying to get them caught, but then, to Jay's amazement, the wall shifted and revealed a small passage. Zane ran through and Jay quickly slipped into the passage as closed, leaving no trace they had ever been there. They could still hear Ed through the wall, and Zane motioned silently for them to start walking.

Using their phones light, they walked through the pathway for roughly ten or so minutes, before Zane came to a halt.

He tapped the ceiling and then pushed it out, before climbing through the hole and then helping his friend out. Jay looked around and couldn't believe where they had come up.

"The great hall?" He asked out loud as Zane dusted off his clothes.

"Yep, it's an old passage they used when they first built the arena." He explained and Jay's eyes widen.

"That would make it over a hundred and twenty years old!" He explained and Zane grinned.

"True; well... I best be off." He sighed as he walked out of the great hall and Jay stood still in thought for a quick minute, before leaving as well. He casually walked back to his house before collapsing on the couch, too tired to walk upstairs. The fire was still roaring, and he fell asleep looking at the orange flames dancing on the black charred wood...


	12. Near-Death Experience

Jay groaned as he slowly awoke to the sound of a constant beeping sound. When he finally opened his tired eyes, he looked over at the clock on the table near the couch. He frowned however when he didn't remember setting an alarm last night. All he remembered was falling asleep on the couch after looking at the dragonbloods in the arena with Zane.

"Good morning Jay." Someone suddenly said and Jay screamed, sitting up and looking to the left where the voice came from. Zane stood in the doorway grinning, holding an alarm clock.

"Zane, what are you doing here?" He yelled. The blonde teen just smiled in that way that made Jay think he had some form of evil plan up his sleeve.

"Just thought you might enjoy a wake-up call, after all, class starts in about... ten minutes?" He said as Jay looked over at the clock, before cursing and running upstairs to get ready. He could hear Zane laughing downstairs and rolled his eyes, whilst trying to put on his shoes and he shirt at the same time.

"NOT FUNNY!" He shouted but the laughter increased and he ran downstairs, dragging Zane out the door with him. They both ran over to the massive arena, arriving at the exact same time as Ed and Edna. While Edna smiled warmly at them, Ed rolled his tired eyes.

"If you two are late again I'm going to have to give you extra classes or something." He warned as Jay panted and Zane laughed at his friend while he was also panting for air.

"Not...technically...late," Jay argued, still trying to regain his breath. Ed sighed, before unlocking the stadium. They all lined up, but instead of releasing the daily dragonblood, Ed turned to the teens while his wife watched from the sidelines.

"Now, we're reaching the end of your training, and from henceforth one student will be kicked out every class." He said and everyone tensed as Ed walked down the line, examining them like an executioner. Edna couldn't help chuckling at her husband's antics. He came back to where the teens could all see him, an emotionless look on his face.

"Harumi, you're out." He said and the girl looked up from filing her nails, before grunting and walking outside. Everyone watched her leave in amazement, shocked that Ed wasn't joking. "Alright, on with the schedule." The old man smiled as he walked over to the nearest cage and unlocked the door, and the Ice Dragonblood came running out in its dragon form. It immediately started shooting icy blasts at them and everyone scattered to grab a weapon.

Zane and Jay ran to the left and were separated from the others, which wasn't very smart.

The Ice Dragonblood looked between the two groups and didn't even hesitate, charging at the two teens. Natural instincts suddenly kicked in and Jay grabbed a pair of nunchucks and Zane seemed to have the same idea, grabbing a couple of shurikens. When it attacked again, they easily evaded the slower monster. Zane and Jay were running back to the others when suddenly Zane cried out and fell over.

"Zane!" Jay cried and went to help the older boy and couldn't help but yelp in panic when he saw the beast had frozen Zane's feet together in a block of ice. Seeing they were in danger, Ronin and Cole tried to distract the creature as Plundar came over and helped Zane up. He insisted on telling everyone he was fine, but Jay wasn't so sure.

"Zane..." He started but the said boy looked him straight in the eye and looked just about ready to slap his friend.

"Jay. I. Am. Fine." He insisted. "You would be more worried about yourself."

"Myself?" He asked, unsure what Zane meant by that when suddenly an excruciating pain ran through his body. Holding back a scream Jay fell to the ground, now realizing what Zane meant. Looking over his body, Jay saw the Ice Dragonblood had shot a blast at him and now a small portion of the back of his right shoulder was encased in ice. The beast turned to Zane and Jay as everyone ran for their lives, but neither of the partially frozen teens could get up.

The Ice Dragonblood opened its mouth ready to swallow as Zane and Jay screamed, grabbing onto each other.

Siliva leaked from the dragonblood's mouth, but Zane and Jay were both too scared to scream as the spit hit them both. Jay's life flashed before his eyes as the creature went to finish them off. Before it could, however, someone threw a large war hammer at it. It hit the creature in the head and it fell to the ground like a stone. Both still screaming, Zane and Jay looked up and saw Cole standing nearby smirking. Their screaming slowly got quieter as Ed quickly herded the Ice Dragonblood back into its cage and Edna checked over their injuries.

Thankfully the ice had broken off, leaving red marks on their skin.

They were painful, but luckily not life-threatening.

"Well, that certainly was entertaining." The older man said as he turned to the students, Cole to be specific. "Nice work Cole, now, are you two okay?" He asked as he turned to Zane and Jay. The blonde-haired teen started to giggle under his breath while Jay sighed, before lying on the ground.

"We're fine, thanks for asking." He replied sarcastically, but Ed didn't seem to notice. Zane's laughter slowly grew until there were tears running down his face and they all stared at the boy, eyebrows raised.

"I...I...I'm sorry...it's just-" He laughed before he took a minute to try and stop laughing, but was unsuccessful. "Laughing is how I deal with stress!" He added and most shrugged before walking out of the arena, but Jay stayed, making sure the paler teen didn't suffocate. He held out a hand, before helping Zane up. Slowly the laughter decreased, but Zane was still giggling as they left the stadium.

"That is one weird way to deal with stress," Jay commented as Zane shook his head, grinning ear to ear.

"I know, but it works." He shrugged and Jay sighed, before looking at the time.

"Ah not good, I'd love to chat longer Zane but I am very late for something." He said but before the other teen could protest Jay was suddenly running off...

* * *

After another successful flight around the sky above the forest, Kai, in his dragon form, carefully turned, following the wind as he slowly landed back in the valley. As Jay climbed off his back Kai couldn't help but think something was wrong. Jay hadn't said a word since he had come to see him or during the flight. Kai knew he shouldn't have cared but he couldn't help it.

"Are you okay Jay?" He asked, trying not to sound too concerned. The smaller boy sat up straight and made a small sound before his mind registered the question.

"Oh...yeah, I'm fine, just...thinking." He mumbled and Kai looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow at the boy, who stayed quiet for a while before looking up at him. "Today was the first time I took battle damage from a dragonblood; I thought I was gonna die." He finally said and Kai's eyes widen slightly, but Jay didn't see.

"Oh..." That was all he could say. They were both quiet for a few minutes before Kai broke the silence. "I remember the first time I was hit." He said, Jay raised his head and Kai could tell he wanted to hear more. "I was a lot more scared than I'd like to admit, my whole life I was told that humans were savage, and if they landed a single hit on you, you were dead."

"You know, I was told the same thing." Jay chuckled and Kai shook his head at the irony of the situation but continued.

"So I was lying there terrified and half expecting that day to be my last when you'd never guess who walked out of woods." He smirked as Jay leaned forward so Kai could see him out the corner of his eye.

"Who?" He asked and the smirk grew on Kai's face.

"You." He said and he could feel Kai lean backward in shock, and for a second Kai thought he might fall over.

"Me?" He muttered and Kai nodded. "So that night was the first time you ever got hit by anything?"

"Yep." He nodded and Jay fell silent in thought, and the brunette almost laughed at his next statement.

"You didn't seem that scared when I saw you."

"Yeah, but that's because as soon I saw you I was almost 100% sure you wouldn't have the guts to kill me, but then again when you pulled out that knife-"

"Yes yes, I get it, I was there too." He smiled as he gave Kai a light shove. Kai laughed under his breath, while the shorter teen shook his head. "How can you look back on that and laugh?"

"Because now that I look back on it I realize how stupid it was to be scared."

"Hey!" Jay cried and Kai laughed harder, before looking back at the ginger-haired teen.

"Alright, I bet my hide that if you ever found me injured again you wouldn't be able to kill me." He challenged and Jay glared at him.

"Deal." He accepted and they say in silence for a minute, before Kai grinned and Jay noticed the flaw in that bet. "Hey, if I killed you then I could take your hide anyway."

"And if you don't I get your hide."

"Eww! That's disgusting!"

"That's life." Kai shrugged and he could almost sense Jay pouting behind him.

"...How many wins is that for you?"

"Lost count." He shrugged as he looked over at the horizon and saw the sun was starting to get low in the sky. "You should be heading back or you'll be walking home in the dark."

"Okay." He nodded and was about to start walking back to Ninjago City when Kai suddenly grabbed his shoulder and made him look at him.

"For the record, I am stronger than you, faster than you, smarter than you, in my opinion, more handsome than you and-"

"Kai?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up." He glared and the brunette laughed. He could tell by the tone in Jay's voice he wasn't taking him seriously. The shorter teen started to walk off and Kai grinned.

"Always nice to see you too Jaybird!"

"I SAID SHUT UP!"...


	13. Heart Ache

The remaining six students all gathered out in front of the arena, patiently waiting for Ed and Edna to come and open shop. When they did finally arrived, Jay thought everyone was surprised to see him armed with a shield and small sword, but he knew today wasn't doing to just be a walk in the park. Unlocking the door, they all followed the couple into the stadium. Ronin and Dareth were about to walk in when Ed turned to them.

"Now boys, it was very hard to pick between the two of you, so I've decided to kick you both out, maybe next year." He said and the brothers had identical looks of shock on their faces, but Ed shut the door never the less, leaving them outside. "Now on with the program." The teacher turned back to all the other students and they all stood straight and tensed, like soldiers going to war.

"This will be one of the toughest lessons yet, and if anyone were to die in this training it will be today." Edna cautioned and Jey felt his eyes widen and everyone else had the same reaction, even Cole. "Today, you duel a Poison Dragonblood, and I felt it was only fair to give you a warning." She added as Zane stepped forward, and Jay swore he was paler than usual.

"Mr. Walker, sir, I seriously doubt that anyone here is ready to fight a dragonblood that powerful." He said but the older man glared at him, who stepped back beside Jay.

"What does a Poison Dragonblood do exactly?" Jay whispered. He did partly know why a Poison Dragonblood was one of the most feared next to a Fire and Water Dragonblood, but it always reassured him to hear it from Zane, because with Zane it was straight from the book.

"A Poison Dragonblood emit a green mist-like substance, and somehow the fog gets into your head and makes your mind think that the dragonblood is whatever you fear most." Jay gulped, and Zane nodded. "It's all self-defense, you're less likely to engage it in battle and if it corners you you're too scared to fight back." He explained. They both looked back to the others and realized that everyone was silent, listening to them. Ed nodded, and for the first time ever Jay regretted talking.

"That was a fairly accurate description, and now you all understand why it's one of the final dragonbloods you duel; once I release the dragonblood you all have five minutes to try and defeat it, but if it gets too dangerous or you run out of time then my wife and I come in and finish it off before anyone gets hurt." He explained carefully so they all understood. One or two of them nodded solemnly, but Jay was too busy thinking of what he would see.

He wondered what his darkest fear was.

His mind flashed back to when he was a little kid and he shuddered. If he was lucky, his late mother wouldn't walk out of that cage and stay in his nightmares where she belonged. Ed walked over to a large silver cage, but unlike the others the walls were made of sheet metal as well as vengestone, leaving whatever was contained invisible to the human eye. His grip tightened on his shield and sword as he tried to swallow the lump in his throat.

"Get ready," Edna warned one last time.

The lock suddenly came off, and before Jay even had a chance to glimpse inside the cage the whole arena filled with green. Not a ray of light made its way through the fog, and Jay was lucky to even see his hand right in front of him. Everyone was silent, and a single pair of footsteps could be heard walking across the concrete floor. Something to his left whimpered, and he realized it was Zane, and he was right next to him. That meant whatever scared him so bad was also right next to Jay, if it was close enough for Zane to see.

The footsteps got closer, and Jay found himself looking in a different direction every two seconds trying to locate the source of the sound.

He heard running to his left, maybe to his right, he didn't really know.

"Jay look out!" Zane shouted as something pushed him over, and he just missed being hit by a sudden splash of what appeared to be acid. Sighing in relief, Jay looked into the nothingness but still couldn't see the beast.

"Thanks, Zane!"

"Just be careful!" He exclaimed as he looked around the darkness, starting to get paranoid with his lack of vision.

"Where are you?" He whispered into the shadows, talking to himself more so than anyone else.

"I'm right behind you Jay." A cold voice hissed and Jay's whole body tensed as he whimpered, looking over his shoulder and seeing the frighteningly familiar amber eyes. A hand reached out to grab him and he ran off into the green, a spine-shivering familiar chuckle ringing in his ears. He tripped over as something shifted in the fog, and crawled backward until his back came against a wall. The silhouette came closer to him, and even though the only visible feature was the eyes Jay knew what it was, or who it was.

"Kai..." He whimpered. Jay made out a faint smirk on the silhouette's face, and even though his mind screamed to try and defend himself with his body wasn't listening, his arms refusing to raise his sword or shield. 'Kai' came closer to Jay and he made out the faint glow of the fire burning in the brunette's hand. Jay knew he was going to die. Before Kai could attack, however, a shield flew through the air and hit the dragonblood. While Ed attacked the beast Edna ran over to Jay and helped him up, before pushing him back into the fog so she could help her husband.

Jay couldn't see where he was going, but he heard the old couple and Kai fighting each other.

A yell of pain came from behind him and he kept running away. Though tears streamed from his eyes as he fought every bone in his body not to run back and help Kai. Suddenly something ran past him and, catching a glimpse of white hair, he grabbed at the owner's wrist. The green seemed to thin out the tiniest bit and Jay managed to make out a few of Zane's features, like his eyes that were threatening to overflow.

"No Jay! You don't understand!" He screamed as he tried to pull away from his friend and Jay felt horrible, already knowing what Zane was probably hearing.

"Zane, it's not really your brother..." He said solemnly as the taller boy stopped pulling for a minute and looked away as if trying to make sense of the situation.

"Yeah... I know..." He muttered and Jay lightly squeezed the taller boys' wrist when the lights turned on overhead and the room was no longer green. Jay looked around and held back a scream. Edna and Ed were carrying an unconscious Kai between and were about to throw him in the cage with solid walls. Jay made to run over but Zane had a sturdy grip on his arm.

"Jay...it's not real..." He said quietly. Jay's mind processed the information slowly and he found it hard to believe, but then he looked hard at the figure in Ed and Edna's grip it seemed to flicker like a mirage. Jay slowly relaxed and Zane let go of his arm. Something wet rolled down his cheek and he realized he was crying. Wiping the tear away, Jay noticed so was just about everyone else. Zane was, and Plundar as well. Ed and Edna weren't looking at the students, but Jay was sure they were.

Even Cole seemed to have watery eyes if someone looked close enough.

The longest five minutes of Jay's life played over in his head, and he ran out of the arena before he could completely break down...

* * *

Kai sighed in boredom as he stared up at the fluffy clouds, his mind making out all kinds of shapes. He was only joking before but he was seriously considering making daisy chains so that he wouldn't have to sit here with nothing to do. He was considering asking Jay to bring a book of something the next time he visited. For now, though, Kai would have to make his own entertainment. When he heard footsteps coming down into the valley he almost tensed.

He then turned to see Jay, looking down at the ground so his ginger curls fell over his freckled face.

Kai sighed, before jumping down from the boulder he had adopted as his chair.

"Jay, what are you doing here so soon?" He asked and the smaller boy jumped. Jay looked up at him, and Kai was confused when he saw the tears streaming down his face.

"Kai..." He mumbled before he suddenly ran over to the brunette and without warning, wrapped his arms around the dragonblood's waist. Almost immediately he started to cry into Kai's shoulder.

"Jay, what are you-?" He started but Jay held onto him tighter and Kai decided now wasn't the time to ask questions. He sighed and kissed all dignity goodbye, before rubbing Jay's trembling back. Kai couldn't help but grin. "If I could walk into Ninjago without everyone trying to kill me, I'd probably give those teachers of yours a piece of my mind." He said and Jay looked up at him, picking up on his little joke.

"Probably?"

"Well, I was raised to steal everything I see... so... might make a few stops." He shrugged casually as Jay grinned, before wiping his eyes with his sleeve and letting Kai out of his little hug. The dragonblood ruffled his hair and Jay pushed his hand away, holding back a laugh of his own. "You know what cheers me up?"

"What?"

"Flying... so if you're not in a hurry-" He laughed as Jay lightly elbowed his stomach.

"Curse you, Kai! I was starting to think you had a heart."

"Hey! I have a heart." He pouted, causing Jay to grin, and started walking off.

"You just choose not to use it." The shorter boy laughed and started to walk faster, breaking into a run.

"Jay get back here! I'm not finished talking to you!" He exclaimed as ran after the ginger-haired teen, who tried to run faster...


	14. Family Bonds

After Kai chased Jay around for a while, pulling the human into a headlock until he apologized, they both sat down under the massive weeping willow trees, enjoying the view. They had somehow managed to strike up a conversation, that was about to lead Jay to find out information others wouldn't have even dreamed about.

"So... I guess you'd say I'm in the final four, final three if I don't get kicked out tomorrow."

"Wow, zero to hero, your parents would be proud." He replied and Jay couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness like someone had just pulled on his heartstrings.

"Just my Dad, my Mom's dead..."

"Oh..." That was all Kai could say as he looked at the ground guiltily. "Was it...?"

"Yeah..." Jay sniffed a bit, before wiping his eyes free of tears before they had a chance to fall. "An Earth Dragonblood, but it's okay... I barely knew her."

"...I'm sorry to hear that." He said as he looked out over the lake, before chuckling a bit. "It's kind of ironic..." He added and Jay immediately glared at the dragonblood. His mother's death was a pretty sensitive subject, and for someone to call it ironic got his blood boiling.

"How so?" He asked through clenched teeth. Kai looked over at him, and seeing the look on his face, eyes widening.

"No no no... Nothing like that! I mean..." He stammered as he started messing with his hair, a habit Jay had begun to realize as a sign he was nervous. "My parents are dead too." He laughed a bit, but Jay saw him growing more uncomfortable. "And the ironic thing is they were killed by a human." He added and Jay felt the blood drain from his face as he looked at his feet.

"I'm sorry."

"Nah, it's okay, my life probably turned out better anyway." He shrugged as Jay gave him a curious look, and the dragonblood smirked, knowing he had the smaller teen's attention. "Well, my parents aren't as caring as yours would be; when you're born, if your parents decide they don't want you... you're dead."

"But that's unfair!" He cried but Kai looked over at him and grinned, and Jay felt like a moron.

"That's what most think, but it's life; so I was lucky from the start, but when my parents died when I was six and my sister was three, so I took it upon myself to raise her."

"You have a sister?" Jay asked as he looked at Kai wide-eyed, and he knew the brunette loved the attention.

"Yeah, her name's Nya, she's a Water Dragonblood." Kai chuckled. "She's the one who gave me this." He said and pulled out his blade for Jay to see. Everything clicked in the human's mind as he hit a new level of understanding.

"So that's why you over-reacted when we couldn't find it."

"I did not over-react!" He growled and Jay grinned, shaking his head in amusement. Kai gave him a look. "That knife is something Nya gave to me after she found it in an old shipwreck, so it had both actual value and sentimental value." He explained. Jay thought about it and realized he probably would've acted the same had it been something his father had given him. They were both sat in silence for a minute before Jay cleared his throat.

"I guess she'd be missing you right now." He suggested and Kai shrugged, finally putting his knife away.

"Maybe, but when someone leaves to try and steal stuff, we're raised to expect they probably won't come back."

"Oh... that's sad... but then again we're taught the same thing." He sighed and Kai nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, but Nya and I are different, I'm the last known Fire Dragonblood, and since we share the same genes that makes her just as valuable."

"Really?" Jay asked in shock and Kai grinned, as if proud of the fact he was special.

"Yep, I'm a dying species within a dying species, so we treat each other a little more 'human'; so... who raised you?" He suddenly asked and Jay thought about it for a second, before realizing he never really thought about it.

"Well... my Dad I guess... but I was pretty independent." He replied, causing Kai to laugh a little at that.

"Really? You never came across as the independent type." He grinned and it was Jay's turn to laugh.

"That's what everyone says, but it's true, best lesson was when I taught myself the stove was hot." He joked as Kai cracked up laughing, and even Jay laughed at his own stupidity.

"Nah, my Dad taught me that fire was hot without anyone getting burnt."

"Lucky." He pouted playfully and once they had both stopped laughing, Kai sighed.

"So what does your Dad say about your schooling?"

"He's currently looking for the dragonblood's lair, so he'd still think I'm the world's worst fighter." He shrugged when Kai suddenly looked over at him wide-eyed, all traces of humor gone from his face.

"They're looking for the lair?" He asked and Jay hesitated, before nodding. He groaned, before lying down on the grass. "So they really are suicidal." He muttered and Jay looked at him in confusion.

"How so?" He asked, causing Kai to look at him with an emotionless look on his face.

"I'd be lucky if they let me live for going back, so a bunch of humans, let alone people intending to kill them trying to go there..." He trailed off and Jay nodded in understanding, a frown on his face.

"I see what you mean..." He gulped as Kai sat up and sighed again, looking over to the horizon.

"You should be heading back..." He muttered. Jay followed his gaze and saw the sun almost below the horizon, the final light of day leaving a golden glow over the valley.

"Yeah, see ya tomorrow." He sighed as he went to stand up, but Kai grabbed his wrist.

"Try not to die tomorrow, okay?" He said and Jay couldn't help but laugh, pulling his wrist away from the brunette's grasp.

"Alright, I'll try not to." He promised and Kai grinned as the human walked off, and Jay couldn't help but smile back. Even though he could be a jerk sometimes, Kai really was great company to be around...


	15. Fight or Flight?

The next day Cole and Jay were standing out front of the arena, and within five minutes before class started Jay was beginning to worry about the other two, Zane and Plundar. Even Cole was looking around, more frustrated than usual. Jay looked around hesitantly, before sighing. If Zane was late he could be kicked out of Dragon Training.

"I'm... I'm gonna go get Zane." He said but Cole simply rolled his eyes and mumbled something.

As Jay walked off he couldn't keep the smirk off his face. Now it was payback time. He broke into a sprint, turning down Zane's street. He slowed to catch his breath, walking down a small garden path towards a small cottage. Right when he was about to knock, a tall man walked out. Jay recognized him as Dr. Juilen, Zane's father, and Ninjago's newest doctor. Dr. Julien was must older than any of the other parents in Jay and Zane's training class.

To the unknown, that might have mistaken him for Zane's grandfather.

He had bushy snowy white hair, an aged face, and hazel eyes behind a pair of thick glasses. He wore a white lab coat jacket with smart black pants and shoes.

"Hello, can I help you?" He asked when he saw Jay standing on their doorstep.

"Um... I'm Zane's friend, I just came to make sure he was ready for class." He replied and the man sighed, before looking at his watch and his eyes widened.

"Oh no, I'm going to be late for work!" He cried as he ran past the teen, before turning back to the freckled teen, "Zane's bedroom is down the hallway and to the left, goodbye!" The older man yelled as he kept running off and Jay hesitated for a second, before deciding that probably meant he could go on inside. After all, he didn't shut the door behind him. Following the man's instructions, Jay quietly walked down the hallway before coming to the said door.

The sound of faint snoring came from inside and Jay couldn't help but grin.

He opened the door a crack, before walking inside. Zane was lying on top of all the blankets, and the fact he was in the same clothes as yesterday told me he'd probably been up all night studying the captured dragonbloods again. The grin on his face widened, and he quickly looked around for a clock or something. A small digital clock flashed at him, the alarm had already gone off. Jay fiddled around with it for a second, but it appeared the alarm was broken or something.

He sighed, deciding to go to plan B.

He shook Zane gently because even though the thought of getting even was a nice one he still didn't want either of them to be late.

"Zane, wake up."

"Five more minutes." The paler teen groaned, before hitting Jay's hands away and rolling over. He laughed, shaking Zane again.

"Earth to Zane, come in Zane." He called out quietly as the blonde-haired teen's eyes opened, and he looked at his friend for a second.

"Jay, what are you doing here?" He asked and Jay grinned at him before it hit Zane and he jumped up. "I didn't!" He exclaimed and Jay's grin widened as he lifted up the alarm clock. Zane saw the time and swore, jumping up and running to grab his shurikens. Jay started to laugh before Zane started dragging him out of the room.

"Jay, come on, we're gonna be late!" He exclaimed as they both raced down the hallway and out the door, Jay still laughing like mad. By the time they both got to the arena, Ed and Edna were just walking through the door. Ed saw them running towards the arena and sighed, shaking his head in disappointment.

"Whose fault was it this time?" Edna asked. Zane and Jay looked at each other, before laughing, realizing this was starting to become a routine. Ed rolled his eyes, trying to become all official and businesslike.

"Well... Welcome to the final three." He sighed as Cole looked around, smirking.

"Plundar got kicked out?"

"No, he approached me after yesterday's class and said he was going to drop out, decided it was too hard for him," Edna explained and Jay thought about it for a second, thinking about how badly shaken he must have been if he had actually quit.

"Poor Plundar."

"He was probably going today anyway, so this is how the final days are going to work." He started and the three remaining students all stood straighter, these next few days would probably be the most important days of their lives.

"Today is the final group duel, and whoever performs worst will be leaving, tomorrow, the final two will be battling each other, and the winner of that duel will get the honor of killing the Shadow Dragonblood," Edna explained and Jay couldn't help but shudder at the mention of the dragonblood. One of the cage doors suddenly swung open and the Wind Dragonblood jumped out at them, roaring and hissing. Instantly, they all dove for the shields and weapons, only for the dragonblood to whip Jay and Zane away and into the wall.

Cole managed to jump and avoid the tail.

As Jay got back to his feet, he saw Cole swinging his large hammer at the dragonblood. Zane was also attempting to get a few hits in but wasn't as successful. Seizing the moment, Jay shot towards the beast, narrowly avoiding the swishing tail and snapping jaws. He reached under the creature's chin and started scratching. Seconds later, the Wind Dragonblood fell to the ground, unconscious. Everyone couldn't stop staring at him until Ed and Edna walked over to them.

"Congratulations boys, that was brilliant, the teamwork you displayed was excellent; it's almost a shame that one of you will have to leave today," Ed said and Jay felt the old man's eyes fall on him. "I'm truly sorry, but I'm afraid-"

"I choose to quit." Zane suddenly said and Jay turned to him in amazement, as did everyone else. Ed raised an eyebrow at the pale teen.

"Are you sure about this?"

"It's my choice, and I've decided that I don't need to be here anymore." He explained. "Besides, Jay and Cole are much more capable fighters than me." He added and Jay swore he heard Cole hold back a laugh, but Ed sighed, sounding disappointed.

"If you insist, I can't force you to participate; I guess that means Cole and Jay are the final two."

"What?" Jay and Cole exclaimed in shock, but Zane was just grinning.

"What? Ed, this is insanity!" Cole protested while Jay stood in shock, his eyes widened to the point of popping

"You're joking right?"

"This is no joke and not something that should be taken lightly." The older man said as he and his wife walked towards the exit, but the three teens simply stood there.

"I don't believe it."

"Neither do I, but understand this Jay." Cole snarled as he glared at him with eyes as cold as ice. "I will fight you in two days' time, and I will win."...

* * *

Jay was grinning all the while he ran into the small bowl-like valley. He took a quick glance around and saw Kai was sunbathing on his usual boulder. The brunette had his eyes closed and arms crossed under his head. Jay walked over to the large boulder calmly, but the grin was still plastered on his face.

"Well you seem to be radiating with happiness, might I ask why?" Kai suddenly asked and Jay jumped at his voice.

"Aww, how'd you know it was me?" He groaned. He couldn't see the brunette's face, but Jay knew he was probably smirking.

"A master thief, you are not."

"I guess you're right..." He sighed

"But had it been me on the other hand, you'd be-"

"Don't push your luck." Jay scowled as Kai stretched his sore muscles, before rolling off the boulder. Panicking, Jay almost ran over to try and catch him, but the dragonblood landed neatly on his feet with the grace of an acrobat. "Are you half cat or something?"

"Nope, just 100% monster." He replied, causing Jay to frown and Kai rolled his eyes, hitting the back of the human's head what he would have been what he considered lightly. "Don't take everything so seriously, now, why were you so happy again?" He asked and Jay thought for a second, before remembering why he had been so excited to get down to the valley.

"Oh yeah! Guess who's in the semi-finals of duel training?"

"Hmm...anyone but you?" He guessed and Jay elbowed him unsatisfied, but Kai laughed. "Congrats, now it's fly time." He quickly said as he turned to walk off and Jay couldn't hold back a chuckle.

"Can you at least pretend to be happy for me?" He asked. Kai looked over his shoulder face completely serious, which is probably what gave him away.

"I don't feel happiness."

"Sure you don't," Jay smirked as Kai transformed into his red dragon form. Jay double-checked the saddle and clipped his harness to it before climbing on him for a flight. As he settled into his seat, Jay could tell how anxious his friend was about the new harness and saddle. "Just relax, it won't hurt you." He soothed as he gently rubbed the side of his warm neck. After he had calmed down a little bit, Kai opened his wings and shot into the cloudy blue sky.

Now with the saddle helping, Jay found it was much easy to stay on the creature and to help him to fly more stably.

As Jay was focused on the saddle and the prosthetic tailfin, Kai started to fly faster, circling around the valley. All of a sudden he started circling violently in the air, causing Jay's stomach to drop. If the beast could smile, Jay was certain he would be grinning ear to ear.

"Put me down! Put me down! Put me down! PUT ME DOWN!" Jay screamed over and over again as loud as he could as Kai started doing even more dangerous stunts in the air. The dragonblood made a chuckling sound at Jay's screams, thinking it was all funny. "KAI PUT ME DOWN NOW!" He cried when Kai suddenly shot up high into the sky. The ground looked further and further away, the massive trees that stood proud looking like insignificant little green ants.

 _ **"Okay..."**_ The sound of Kai's voice echoed in Jay's mind when Kai suddenly did a loopy-loop and Jay's harness detached from the saddle.

The ginger-haired teen plummeted through the air. He screamed as the ground zoomed up and Jay was certain he was going to die. At the last possible second, however, something dove down and Jay landed on it instead of the ground. Kai glided to the ground and Jay slowly climbed off his back and curled up on the ground, trembling. Once he had finally calmed down, he saw Kai was still in his dragon form, waiting for Jay to climb back onto his back so they could go for a proper flight.

At first, Jay wanted to go back home as a form of punishment since Kai had been foolish enough to risk both their lives with that little stunt.

That is until he saw the silent desperation in his amber eyes. Jay sighed in frustration before he stood up and climbed onto his back, triple checking that his harness was properly attached this time. The clips were a little bent, but as long as Kai didn't do anything like that again, they should be fine. The dragonblood started to fly again, and Jay held onto the saddle tightly to stop himself from sliding off. After they had reached an altitude Kai was happy with, he stopped flapping his wings and they hovered.

Jay caught his breath, and he heard a dull chuckle in the back of his mind.

_**"Come on, it wasn't that bad."** _

"I hate you."

 _ **"You know you don't."**_ Kai chuckled and Jay sighed, before realizing something.

"Why can I hear you in the back of my mind?"

 _ **"It's called a soul bond, they're rare, but not unheard of between dragonbloods."**_ He explained. _**"Basically, it lets you project your thoughts into the other's mind."**_

"Really?"

 _ **"That's what I heard."**_ He replied and Jay contemplated the idea, before trying it out.

_**"Kai's a pain in the-"** _

_**"I heard that, and I'm gonna make you pay for that!"**_ He snapped and Jay laughed but regretted it when he saw the glint in Kai's eyes. _**"See that cliff?"**_ Kai asked as Jay looked a little to his left, seeing where the ground seemed to end in a sheer drop.

"Yeah, I see."

_**"We're going over it."** _

"What?" He gulped as Kai started to fly faster, heading towards the cliff with hawk-like accuracy. Jay held back a scream while holding on for dear life. The cliff got closer, and at the speed, Kai was flying Jay knew he wasn't bluffing and they went over. "KAI I HATE YOU!" He screamed was struggling not to fall forward as they flew vertically down. The ocean's waves broke over viciously pointed rocks that looked more like horrid black razor-sharp teeth.

The water was a murky dark blue with white foam, and for the umpteenth time that day, Jay thought he was going to die.

He held onto Kai's saddle tighter, and at the last possible second the dragonblood pulled up. Jay was hit by a wall of sea spray as the waves came up, lightly soaking his clothes.

_**"Still alive up there?"** _

"Barely." He whimpered and he could almost sense Kai mentally smirk, as they rose back into the sky. They flew straight at an even pace and Jay tried to find a more comfortable position to sit in. Once he did, he actually looked around and tried to enjoy the scenery rushing past them. Once he was past the rocks, the water was a deep greenish-blue color. Clouds were scattered everywhere and Jay grinned as they flew through the white fluff once or twice.

Massive rock formations stood up from the water near the cliffs, and Jay swallowed when he saw they were heading right towards them.

 _ **"Uh Jay, do you mind?"**_ Kai mentally asked, slightly turning his head to the left. Jay looked to where Kai was hoping to go and nodded to himself as he adjusted the tailfin. Kai's wings closing tighter to his body, they dived like a hawk under a naturally made stone bridge. Jay looked up and saw a flock of white sea birds flying overhead. He was starting to getting the hang of this. Jay adjusted the tailfin back into its original position but forgot to shift his weight as Kai tried to turn.

They brushed against a rock pillar and he winced.

"Sorry!" He cried as Kai rolled his eyes and turned away, but they ended up crashing into another rock. "Yeah... that was my fault." He blushed as Kai flicked his head up and basically slapped the human. "Yeah, yeah, I'm on it!" He glared as Kai started to fly up until they were almost vertical and Jay held back a laugh. "This is amazing!" He happily exclaimed into the wind. Suddenly his grip on the saddle and the damaged clips on his harness broke off and he fell off.

Without Jay to adjust the prosthetic tailfin, Kai felt his control slip and he was falling through the sky with him.

While Jay was flipping around in all directions, Kai was screeching like a banshee. Even though he was terrified, Kai managed to stay in dragon form. He needed to get upright so he could try and catch Jay so they could attempt to glide to safety. Jay tried to extend his arm to the creature, but he was still too far away.

"Just a little further..." He mumbled and by luck or fate, the wind changed, blowing him over just enough for him to grab the saddle. As quickly as possible Jay reseated himself and started frantically trying to adjust the tailfin so Kai could fly right and get them to safety. Forced to go with the wind, they skinned the top of trees that seemed to grow horizontally out of the cliff. While trying to pull up, Kai let out another harsh shrill cry of fear that almost made Jay's ears bleed.

Jay tried to look through the fog and barely made out the maze of rock archers facing them.

Holding back a scream, he racked his brain for a solution before tightening his grip on the saddle. Kai realized what he was thinking and tensed. The first pillar was a meter away from them, and there was no turning back now...


	16. Second Thoughts

Trusting his instincts and memory, Jay adjusted the prosthetic tailfin and leaned left and Kai followed the action by angling his body left, and they made it past the first pillar. Kai quickly swerved back right and Jay tried to keep up; shifting his weight and the tailfin as another pillar flew past. He tried to keep up as Kai did most of the work. Everything around them was a blur of grey and black rock, but there was something there. Inside, waiting for the moment.

Jay barely had time to think as Kai seemed to roll in mid-air, not even noticing as the blood rushed to Jay's head and gravity tried to pull him down.

They both moved in synch, and within seconds they were out of the maze of stone. The sky seemed to clear as they left the fog, returning to the clear blue they had seen before. Jay was panting in adrenaline, and slowly he realized what they had done. Happiness seemed to be radiating from Kai in waves, and Jay couldn't help but laugh as he threw his arms in the air.

"Yes!" He shouted, closing his eyes as he took at the moment. Jay felt Kai move under him and looked forward before his face fell. "Oh come on..." He groaned. One important thing he learned about dragonbloods was that while humans celebrated by cheering and jumping around, dragonbloods celebrated by creating a wall of fire and flying through it...

* * *

Jay shuttered, still trying to come to terms with what they had done. We had both landed safely on a small cliff that stood off a larger cliff face, and Kai had lit a small fire before sitting down against the rock wall, happily smirking as he devoured some meat Jay had managed to get Ninjago. Suddenly Kai looked up as if he had heard something, before shrugging it off and looking at his friend.

"Hungry?" He asked, offering Jay a half-eaten chicken leg.

"Uh... no thank you." He politely declined with a small smile as he shifted away from the chewed on meat. Kai snorted before going back to his own meal.

"I'll have some if you let me have a look at your knife?" He suggested and Kai thought about it for a moment.

"Deal." He sighed as he hesitantly handed over his knife. As Jay's hands passed over his knife the dragonblood seemed to flinch, and for a second Jay thought he was going to pull back his blade, but instead he slid it into the human's hand.

"One scratch and-"

"You'll tear off my head and cut my eyes out with a rusty fork I know." He finished and Kai froze for a second, and Jay grinned as he realized he used the mind link to find out what he was going to say.

"I was going to say I'd burn your deck in the fiery pits of hell, but either will do." He shrugged and Jay held back a laugh as Kai tried to cover it up, but one of the positives yet negatives of a mind link was you could tell when the other was lying. Jay carefully examined the blade, and the realization finally hit him.

"It's flawless." He breathed in awe. Kai chuckled and Jay realized he had just fed his ego again, as he handed the other's blades back.

"No weapon is flawless, but this is as close as they get." He brushed off, Jay shook his head knowing Kai was a hopeless cause when the sound of wings beating broke through the quiet solitude. Jay looked up and saw three dragonbloods flying towards them, as Kai growled under his breath. As they landed, Jay realized the three of them as Smoke, Energy, and Form Dragonbloods. He recognized them from the books back in the great hall back in Ninjago.

The Smoke Dragonblood's bright ebony eyes sat concealed within the creature's narrow, thorny skull with large, angular ears.

A row of tendrils ran down the sides of each of its jawlines. Its nose was flat and had two short, rounded nostrils. Several rows of large teeth poked out from the side of its mouth. A strong neck ran down from its head and into a bulky body. The top of its body was covered in curved ash grey scales. It also had a row of small darker grey spikes running down its spine and its bottom was covered in thick blacks skin. Four slim limbs carried its long body and allowed the creature to stand towering and elegantly over them.

Each limb had four digits, each of which ended in narrow nails seemingly made of onyx.

Delicate wings grew from its sharp shoulders. The wings were almost angel-like, the skin of the wings seemed to glow as if made from silver glitter and small, sharp tips grew from each ending like massive spears. Its narrow tail ended in a curled tip and was covered in the same curved scales as its body. The Energy Dragonblood was much smaller than the other two, so Jay guessed it was a child. Its dark emerald eyes sat far within its horned, narrow skull.

Several small tendrils sat atop its head, just above its warped ears.

Several rows of small crystal growths ran down the sides of each of its jawlines. Its nose was short and had two small, pointy nostrils and there was a crystal growth on its chin. A short neck ran down from its head and into a slender body. The top of its body was covered in smooth emerald scales and its bottom half was covered in wide, golden scales. The beast had four mighty limbs that carried its body and each limb had five digits, each of which ended in huge talons seemingly made of gold.

Its gigantic wings grew from just above its shoulders and end at its hips.

The wings were bladed in structure. Thick-skin and eerie bone structures made up most of the wing and small, sharp tips grew from each ending like massive spears. Its barbed tail ended in a single tendril and was covered in the same smooth skin as the rest of its body. Jay gulped as the Form Dragonblood seemed to glare a hole into his head. Savage violet eyes sat gracefully within the creature's thorny, narrow skull, which gave it a frightening looking appearance.

Several enormous central horns sat atop its head, just above its thick, curved ears.

A row of tiny horns ran down the sides of each of its jawlines. Its nose was stubby and has two large, slitted nostrils. A lean neck ran down from its head and into a long, slim body. The top was covered in smooth, dark purple skin, and rows of thick armor plating ran down its spine. The bottom of its body was covered in black, stone-like scales. Four slender limbs carried its body and each limb had six digits, each of which ended in keen talons seemingly made of crystal.

Delicate wings grew from its shoulders and were bat-like.

The edges of the skin inside the wings were tattered and damaged and armor-like scales grew on top of the wing's primary bones. Its simple tail ended in a scythe-like blade and was covered in the same smooth skin as its body. As soon as they landed they transformed Jay could see the smirks on the Form and Smoke Dragonbloods' faces. He had been right when he thought the Energy Dragonblood was younger than the others, looking around the age of twelve.

He had long, blonde tousled hair, and brown arched eyebrows with bright emerald green eyes that many people would state could sometimes glow in the dark.

He wore a dark green jacket with a white t-shirt and black pants and black and dark green sneakers. The Smoke Dragonblood had gray hair in a spiky fashion. He had thick black eyebrows and lines on either side of his mouth. He has a grey, padded square-patterned on his body with black gloves and brown and gray shoulder pads. He had a large belt with a gray buckle and a brown interior. His legs and waistline had silver chainmail-like material on them.

The Form Dragonblood had medium-length, bright purple hair with darker purple eyes.

She was wearing pale purple leather armor with a red and gold metal corset with a matching belt.

"Hey, there hothead." The Form Dragonblood smirked as they walking over to Kai casually, while the latter stood away from the rest before Jay realized it was watching him. After a stare-off with the female dragonblood, Jay glanced over to where the other two had gone. Kai had not moved and somehow managed to stand his ground while sitting. The other two-towered overhead, but it was obvious which way the pecking order went. Kai was in control, and neither the Form nor the Smoke Dragonblood liked it.

The silver-haired male opened his mouth to speak.

"Where've you been, idiot?" He growled his voice harsh and demanding respect.

"Yeah, we heard Nya's been worried." She chuckled, an almost sadistic look in her eyes. The blonde-haired dragonblood moved closer to Jay, sighing under his breath, flicking his fringe away from his eyes.

"Yeah, I heard a rumor someone saw her crying." The other two dragonblood's laughed harshly, and Jay saw Kai pull his hand into a fist.

"Wittle old Nya crying for her big brother." He mocked as Kai grounded his teeth together, but not letting his anger show to the others.

"You've obviously fallen for one of Lasha's little mind tricks again, Ash, but that's no surprise; you petty thieves are never particularly bright," Kai smirked as the Smoke Dragonblood, Ash, and the female stepped back in shock and the blonde-haired boy's laughed. Jay also held back a laugh, but he knew being the little human he would be dead before he could scream.

"You think we're low! I'm not sitting on my arse associating with that... thing!" The woman snarled as he motioned at Jay and the human felt himself flinch, but he should have been used to worse.

"Associating, that's a big word Chamille, been using that dictionary?" The Energy Dragonblood looked ready to fall in a heap of laughter, as Ash and Chamille fumed, but Kai barely noticed. "And anyway, I'm not the one dragging Lloyd around, causing trouble, and Jay's better company than you; at least he has more than one functioning brain cell." He added and Jay felt the corner of his lip turn to a smile but saw out the corner of my eye the youngest look at him in horror.

As if that information made him ten times more dangerous.

Kai and Ash started fighting, as Chamille sat down nearby to watch. Jay looked to see the Energy Dragonblood, who he now knew was called Lloyd, watching him again, and sighed. An idea struck him and he slowly reached into his bag. The boy started to growl, ready to attack, but Jay saw him relax as he pulled out a handful of meat. He hesitated, before tossing the dragonblood the meat. Lloyd caught the meat with ease and quickly sat down, tearing into the food.

Jay almost laughed at the clear lack of table manners that all dragonbloods seemed to have.

When Lloyd finished, he looked over the human and Jay smiled softly. Slowly Lloyd stood and walked closer to the ginger-haired teen. Jay tried not to be bothered by the fact when the dragonblood sat next to him. Before too long he found the dragonblood head resting on his shoulder, acting as if to be asleep. He could sense Kai mentally laughing as he and Ash verbally sparred, and Jay felt like punching him. That's when he caught on to the fact Chamille was watching him, shaking her head in utter disbelief.

"His parents trusted up to teach him how dangerous humans are, and we bump into the only human ever that wouldn't try to kill a dragonblood on sight."

"Oh...sorry?" He muttered nervously as she laughed at him, and he realized how stupid he sounded. "Never mind."

"Ha! That's brilliant."

"Glad to be of amusement." He replied as she stopped laughing, giving him a pleading look.

"The name's Chamille, do I get something to eat?" She almost demanded and Jay turned his bag inside out, showing he didn't have any food left to share.

"Sorry."

"Pity." She huffed, looking over to the horizon, before standing up and stretching. "We best be off, up Lloyd." She ordered and the boy who had been leaning on Jay shot up and walked over to her as quick as possible, as she looked over at Kai and the Smoke Dragonblood. Seeing they were still fighting, she sighed. "How do you feel about another buddy?" He asked and Jay glanced over to the other two, knowing the answer already.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'll pass."

"You sure? I insist you take Smoky." She laughed again, before walking over and dragging Ash away by the collar.

"I'm gonna kill you one day you smug prick I swear!" He roared. Kai waved as the dragonbloods transformed and flew off, but not before Lloyd turned to Jay.

"See ya, Jay."

"See ya later kid." Jay waved and Lloyd transformed before following the other two dragonbloods. Jay watched the three vanished from sight, as my heart fell to my stomach. "Everything we know about you guys is wrong."...


	17. Home

On the other side of Ninjago, things weren't going as well. Large ships started docking in the harbor, with large holes and scorch marks everywhere. Claws looked like they had been run up the side of the sea vessels, and it was a miracle they still floated. Everyone silently got off the ship, and it was obvious what had happened. Ed and Edna sighed as Cliff walked over to them.

"I trust you found the lair at least."

"Not even close." Cliff sighed in frustration. "I hope you had \a little more success than me." He added and the couple shared a smirk, having been looking forward to telling the father all week.

"Well if you mean by success your parenting troubles are over, then yes!" Edna smiled proudly. Cliff turned eyes wide, as a group of citizens ran past them.

"Congratulations Cliff, everyone is so relieved!"

"Out with the old and in with the new right?"

"No one will miss that nuisance!"

"The city is throwing a party to celebrate!" Another one cheered before the group ran off to tell the others, and Cliff's heart fell into his stomach.

"He's gone?" He muttered in horror. Ed raised an eyebrow, before explaining.

"Um...yes most afternoons, but who can blame him? The life of a celebrity's very rough, he can barely walk through the streets without being swarmed by his new fans." He explained as the other man chuckled, not believing the news.

"My son?"

"Who would've guessed it? He seemed to have this... way with the beasts." Edna nodded and Cliff's eyes went wide before a smile of pride appeared on his face for the first time...

* * *

Jay sighed as his tired face rested on a wooden desk, as he drew scribbles on a once-white sheet of paper. Previous drawings of Kai and a few other dragonbloods littered the table and walls, a long-forgotten notebook thrown open with illegible notes on the pages. The lead broke on Jay's pencil and he sighed, looking at the drawing of Lloyd he didn't realize he had been drawing. He turned to grab another pencil and saw Cliff walk through the doorway.

Jumping off the chair, Jay quickly tried to cover up as many pictures as he could.

"Dad! You're back! Um... Ed and Edna aren't here." He said as Cliff glared at him and stepped into the room, frowning.

"I know, I was looking for you." He said coldly. Jay thought over the possibilities in his head and was quickly overcome by an impending sense of doom.

"Y-you did?"

"You've been hiding something from me." He added and Jay leaned over my drawings, trying to sound casual.

"I ha-, I have?"

"How long did you think you could hide this from me?"

"I-I don't know what you're..."

"NOTHING happens on this island without me hearing about it."

"So?"

"So... let's talk, about that dragonblood." He frowned as Jay's drawings fell out from underneath his arm and he hung his head as they fell to the floor.

"Oh gods, Dad I'm so sorry I-I-I was going to tell you... I just didn't know how to..." He tried to explain when all of a sudden Cliff started to laugh, and Jay'd mind collapsed into confusion. "You're, you're not...upset?"

"What? I was hoping for this!" He exclaimed and his son raised an eyebrow. His father wanted him to befriend one of the most dangerous dragonbloods known to man?

"Ah...you were?"

"And believe me, it only gets better! Just wait until you defeat a Wind Dragonblood for the first time, and mount your very first Metal Dragonblood's head!" He almost cheered and Jay almost sweatdropped. His tiny hope that his father had had a change of heart about dragonbloods vanishing along with his appetite. "What a feeling! You really had me going there, son! All those years of being the worst fighter Ninjago had ever seen, it was rough; I almost gave up on you, and all this time you were holding out on me!" He laughed as he turned to grab a chair, and Jay finally realized he was talking about training.

"Uh, Dad-"

"With you doing so well in your training we finally have something to talk about." He smiled with anticipation as an awkward silence filled the room. Jay smiled sheepishly before his face fell and the room stayed silent. Cliff realized his son did not feel like talking and cleared his throat.

"Um, Here I brought you something, so you can...keep yourself safe." He said as he pulled out a shield. "Your mother would've wanted you to have this, it was her first shield." He smiled fondly as he handed the shield to his son, who examined every feature. This impressive pointed heater shield, made from ironbark, offered heavy-duty protection, especially against arrows and bolts and piercing attacks. The shield's edges were embellished with layered metal plates and had been decorated with engraved words.

Its center was decorated with several blue gemstones and symbols of lightning.

It was clear this shield had been through numerous battles. Scores and scratches made by who knows what types of Dragonbloods had left signs of perseverance and power.

"It... keeps her close, carry it proudly because you deserve it; you've held up your end of the deal." He smiled as Jay stared at the shield, before carefully placing it on the table and stretching.

"I should really get to bed."

"Yes, good., ok, good talk."

"Thanks for stopping by and-"

"Hope you like the shield."

"Yeah, thanks."

"Good night Jay," Cliff said as he exited the room, and Jay heard them both sigh relieved. A crash came from downstairs and he winced, leaning down to pick up the discarded pages. He hadn't realized how caught up he had been in his thoughts, because there were three new pictures he only faintly remembered drawing. One was Chamille sitting near the campfire, and the other was the one he had been drawing when Cliff came in. The final one made him laugh; it was a sketch of Kai and Ash with their arms around each other's shoulders laughing.

"Where'd the hell I get the idea for that one?" He muttered to himself as he placed all the pages in the top drawer of his desk and sighed, before collapsing on the bed. Too lazy to change, he looked up at the ceiling, which was surprisingly plain. Tomorrow he would fail and dragonblood training.

 _ **"Why?"**_ Kai suddenly asked. Jay jumped up screaming, looking around the room. If Cliff found the brunette here Jay didn't dare think about the consequences.

"Kai where are you?" He asked into thin air, but when no response came Jay remembered the soulbond and sighed. _**"What are you doing in my head?"**_

_**"Bored."** _

_**"Don't care, get outta my head."**_ He growled and he could hear Kai mentally sigh, but he could tell the dragonblood was smiling.

 _ **"Goodnight Jaybird."**_ He said and Jay felt himself go red and Kai mentally laughed. Remembering basic manners, the human quickly replied.

 _ **"Goodnight Kai."**_...


	18. Discovery

Zane ran into the arena cursing, just managing to open the door in time instead of slamming into it. People were everywhere, friends and strangers alike all cheering and watching

"I can't believe I overslept! Today of all days!" He growled into himself as he started running up the stairs to where all the other previous students were watching the fight, Zane caught his breath as the others turned to look at him before turning back to the battle. "What...What did I miss?" He panted. Ronin looked at Zane smirking, knowing the blonde would always hate himself for missing this battle.

"Not much." Harumi shrugged.

"Who's winning?"

"Not sure, they only just started," Plundar replied as they continued to watch the battle. Down in the arena, the Lightning Dragonblood was sniffing around for the two teens that were both hiding behind one of the many barricades scattered around the arena. As they sat there, Cole suddenly grabbed Jay's arm and glared into his eyes.

"Stay out of my way! I'm winning this thing!" Hee hissed before quickly shooting off to hide behind another barricade. Jay swallowed the heavy lump in his throat as he gripped the spear and his mother's shield and looked around. Almost everyone in Ninjago was watching them, watching him, with high expectations in their gazes. He didn't know what to do. He didn't want to be in this arena but he knew that there was no way of walking out without them finding out about Kai.

He didn't even want to imagine what would happen if they found his friend.

Suddenly he heard a rumbled growled. He felt his skin pale and freeze in fear as he slowly turned to his right and saw that the Lightning Dragonblood was dangerously close, snarling at him. Meanwhile, Cole was behind a barricade nearby, mentally preparing himself for the fight ahead.

"This time, this time for sure!" He growled before jumping up and ready to attack the monster, only to see the dragonblood lying on the ground in a deep sleep and a nervous Jay standing next to it. "No! No, son of a half-troll, rat-eating, munge-bucket!" He screamed as he threw his war hammer to the ground in fury as the crowd erupted into cheers. Zane watched from the seats in amazement as everyone stood up cheering.

"He actually won?" He gasped, barely audible over the crowd.

"Yeah, even though Jay sucks at defending himself in most situations, when he's just fighting dragonbloods it's like he's a totally different person!" Dareth exclaimed as the other students ran down the stairs to congratulate Jay, Zane following yet trailing behind. Ronin and Dareth lifted the freckled teen onto their shoulders, and while he tried to keep his balance he saw Ed walk over.

"Congratulations Jay Gardon, you get to kill the Shadow Dragonblood!" He beamed with pride. Reality came crashing down on Jay and he remembered what he had been fighting for, as it had completely slipped his mind about halfway through the duel. Jay paled, vanishing into my own little world. Zane was still trailing behind the group when he heard Cole muttering something to himself.

"No one just gets as good as him." He hissed in rage.

"Unfortunately, I'm going to have to agree with you." The paler teen sighed, and Cole realized he'd been listening. Both watched as Jay was carried away by the crowd, and he forced a fake smile as everyone continued cheering.

"Great, I am so-"

* * *

"Leaving, we're leaving!" Jay called into the valley as he looked around for Kai. He had his new riding harness on and a large sack with enough food and supplies inside to last both of them a week at least. He looked around and saw a shadow sat on Kai's boulder and assumed it was his fiery friend.

"Looks like you and me and around a little vacation... forever." He sighed as he set the heavy sack and looked back up at the boulder, only to see Cole sat there, examining his war hammer.

"I want to know what's going on." He glared as he slid off the boulder and began to walk over to the smaller boy. "No one just gets as good as you do, especially you, are you training with someone?"

"T-Training?" He gulped.

"It better not involve this." He hissed as he tugged on one of the shoulder pads on Jay's harness and he fell, losing his balance. A dead twig snapped somewhere and Cole tensed, looking around, his warrior instincts aware they were not alone. Jay quickly got back onto his feet, panicking.

"You're right, I-I'm through with the lies." He laughed nervously. "I've been painting...landscapes! It's time everyone knew, drag me back here we go." He said as he reached for the raven-haired teen's hand, but he grabbed him and pulled it back to an unnatural angle. Jay crumbled to the ground, grabbing his wrist with his good hand.

"Ah! Why would you do that?!" He cried in pain.

"That's for beating me." He growled as he dropped the point of his hammer into Jay's stomach and he groaned in pain. "And that's for everything else." He hissed and suddenly low growl came from behind them and Jay turned just as Kai in his dragon form leaped over the ginger-haired teen's head, teeth bared. Cole swore and went to swing his hammer, as Jay swore as well. Jumping up Jay hit the weapon out of Cole's hand, before running back in front of Kai and blocking his attack.

"No! No Kai, stop! He's a friend!" He exclaimed and Kai reluctantly stopped his attack, before crouching prepared to pounce in case the bigger human tried anything, still in dragon form. Cole watched eyes wide and crazy as Jay placed an arm on the dragonblood's back. "Y-you just scared him."

"I scared him?!" Cole cried in disbelief, only to suddenly freeze, glaring. "Who is 'him'?" He snarled and Jay had to think for a second, deciding the situation couldn't get any worse.

"Cole, Kai; Kai, Cole." He said as Kai bared his fangs again, and Jay winced. Cole stood there in shock for a second finally connecting the dragonblood, the saddle, and the harness. Then, he ran off.

"Da da da, we're dead." Jay groaned and something glowed behind him and he turned to see Kai was standing next to him in his human form, before shakily turning and walking off. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa, where do you think you're going?"

"To sleep, you didn't exactly help me out there!"

"We weren't actually in danger! Now come on!"...


	19. The Nest

Cole ran as fast as he could through the forest as he pushed branches and plants out of her way as Zane sprinted over to him. They had to get back to Ninjago and warn the others that there was a Fire Dragonblood hiding nearby.

"So?"

"So! Jay's got a dragonblood down there, that's how he knows what to do in training!"

"Wait!" Zane cried as jumped in front of the raven-haired teen, both of them stopping. "What do you mean... dragonblood?" He asked but before Cole could respond or scream, something grabbed the pair and elevated them off the ground. Zane started to panic, screaming as his face went paler than usual. Cole fought against the grip, even though everyone knew that if by some miracle he did manage to escape the grasp he would ultimately fall to his death.

_**"Kai let them go on that tree."** _

_**"Yes, mom,"**_ Kai responded dryly, still wanting to go back asleep, and Jay rolled his eyes as Kai hovered over a tree, letting go of the others. Both grabbed a branch, as Kai finally roosted on part of the tree's trunk, causing the whole thing to bend to the point of snapping. Zane managing to crawl on top of a sturdier branch and sat, holding onto the tree for dear life. Cole continued to yell at Jay, trying not to look down.

"Jay, get us down from here!"

"You have to give me a chance to explain."

"I am not listening to anything you have to say!" He snarled and Jay sighed, giving up on the raven-haired.

"Zane?" He asked and the taller teen looked up at him, swallowing nervously.

"Just tell me straight Jay, it's a Fire Dragonblood isn't it?" He whimpered and Jay suddenly realized what Zane was panicking about, and it wasn't the height. Kai was less than empathetic, mentally clearing his throat.

 _ **"I have a name."**_ He huffed, clearly offended. Ignoring the comment, Jay looked Zane in the eyes.

"Yes, this is a Fire Dragonblood, but I swear on my life that this dragonblood had absolutely nothing to do with your mother or your brother's death."

"H-how do you know?" He asked fearfully. Jay felt all eyes on him, and Kai's face mentally falls. Jay took a shaky break, before answering.

"Because I don't believe Kai would ever hurt anyone." He stated and Zane looked for any trace of lying, before standing up on the branch.

"Straight down to the ground?"

"Straight down to the ground." He promised. The pale teen hesitated, before looking over his shoulder to where Cole was trying to swing onto the branch.

"Cole?"

"If you want to be killed by that monster I don't care, I'll get down by myself." He growled and Jay facepalmed, before holding out a hand to help Zane.

"Basically you just sit back and relax, Kai does all the flying." He explained, causing Zane to finally cracked a smile, and Jay almost sighed relieved.

"Its name is Kai?"

"Not his fault, it's his given name." He shrugged and five minutes later with some help and struggle, Zane was sitting behind him. Cole had finally gotten onto the branch and glared at the others like they were filth.

"Cole, in the interest of your own health I suggest you just sit on the dragonblood," Zane suggested. The raven-haired teen looked down and tensed, finally realizing that when Kai took off the tree would snap back into its original position, like a giant slingshot. He walked over to them stiffly, hitting away Zane's hand when he tried to help. Eventually, the three humans were seated, and Jay ignored a remark about their weight from Kai.

"Now, get this thing down Gordon," Cole ordered and Jay rolled his eyes, grinning.

"Kai down, gently," Jay instructed, hoping Kai would listen. Opening his wings, Jay thought he could feel Kai smirk but prayed it was just all in his imagination. "See nothing to be afraid o-"

Before Jay could finish his sentence they shot into the air, climbing faster than Jay ever had before. Zane clung to him screaming, while Cole swore multiple times as they flew almost vertically. "What are you doing?!" Jay shouted but Kai didn't answer. Finally stopping at a horizontal angle, they all managed to regain their seating half a second before Kai dived. Not stopping at the ocean and bobbing under the waves multiple times, Jay caught his breath as they gained altitude again.

"Kai stop, we need them to like us!" He pleaded and acting as though it would help, Kai started spinning, which resulted in the three humans almost falling to their most likely death, but by some miracle, they managed to stay on. "And now the spinning?! THANK YOU FOR NOTHING YOU STUPID DRAGONBLOOD!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.

Suddenly Kai stopped.

They all started to free fall, still on Kai's back while the dragonblood made no attempt to fly. Right as they were going to hit the water, Cole did something completely unexpected. Jay didn't know whether he was talking to him or Kai, but whoever it was the statement saved their lives.

"Look I'm sorry okay? Just get me down from here!" He cried in terror. Pleased with the apology, the dragonblood opened his wings widely and stopped just before the water. Now steadily rising, Jay grinned as they started to pass through the clouds before he realized Zane still had a death tight grip around his waist and his eyes firmly closed. He felt like slapping himself and then Kai. His little stunt wouldn't have helped Zane's fear of Fire Dragonbloods.

"Um, Zane? You can open your eyes now, Kai's stopped being a jerk." He reassured his friend as he looked over his shoulder and saw Zane slowly open his eyes. "You okay?" He asked as the blonde-haired teen swallowed nervously, taking extra care not to look down.

"I've been better." He said, barely above a whisper. Hesitantly removing his arms from around Jay's waist, the freckled teen heard him gasp slightly and grinned. The sun was just beginning to set over the ocean. The sky was a pale baby blue, the clouds brilliant shades of yellow, red, pink, and purple. Jay turned just in time to see Cole lazily reach to touch a cloud, before pulling his hand when he realized Jay was watching. Kai flew around the clouds aimlessly for at least half an hour giving everyone a grand tour of the sky.

He was also waiting for the other two to relax.

Jay defiantly saw Zane grin and he swore he saw Cole crack the slightest of smiles before Kai gently flew up over the cloud cover. His timing perfect, the northern lights appeared above them, shimming green, blue, and purple. When they finally faded, Jay realized how late it had gotten, the sky a deep royal blue sky littered with the bright glow of stars. Silently they glided over Ninjago. Lights in houses were lit and traffic flooded the streets, with people trying to rush home to their families.

Kai barely moved a wing, the condition practically perfect for flying, and Jay adjusted the tail to allow them to glide peacefully throughout the night sky.

Zane caved in, admitting what Jay considered the seemingly obvious.

"This is pretty cool." He smiled, Jay raised an eyebrow, and Zane knew even though he couldn't see his face.

"Pretty cool?"

"Alright, it's amazing." He chuckled as Jay laughed and Kai mentally smirk.

_**"Yes, I am amazing."** _

_**"He meant the view."** _

_**"Either way I'm right."** _He chuckled and Jay rolled his eyes before a light bulb lit above his head and he turned to Zane.

"Zane, a Fire Dragonblood's ego is five times the size of their wingspan." He said, Zane shook his head disappointedly, and Jay chuckled to himself. "So, what do you think Cole?"

"I think you're insane and stupid." He replied and Jay sighed looking forward again, but Cole didn't stop. "While this remains the stupidest idea in history, the view's not that bad and I might have been wrong about going to tell your father about the dragonblood." He reluctantly admitted. Grinning to himself, Jay silently reminded Kai that Ninjago would be on the watch for dragonbloods about this time of night. The dragonblood complied, flying into a thick cloud of fog. A minute of silence, broken by Zane clearing his throat.

"So Jay... What do you plan on doing about tomorrow?" He asked and the original dilemma flew back into his mind.

"Ah, crap." Jay groaned.

"Your final exam is tomorrow." Cole frowned, also realizing the problem. "They're going to expect you to kill-" He tried to add but Zane suddenly coughed loudly, trying to tell Cole to shut up. The raven-haired teen rolled his eyes but fell silent. Jay sighed, dully noting Kai's ears flicking like he was listening to something.

"Don't remind me." He sighed when suddenly, without warning, Kai dived left and Jay let out an alarmed yelp.

"Jay, what's happening?" Zane fearfully asked, but Jay didn't know. Fighting against an unseen wind, he could sense Kai was on the verge of a panic attack. He swerved around what appeared to be nothing, but before Jay could ask a black dragon with red eyes flew past them, something sitting on its back. The creature let out a loud call and the three humans tried to make them seem as small as possible. Kai went to turn and avoid it but almost collided with another dragonblood.

Forced to fly straight ahead, Kai inwardly cringed.

The fog thinned and Jay looked around, realizing they were boxed in, with no way of escaping from hundreds of dragonbloods in their dragon forms flying around them.

"Jay, what's going on?" Zane asked as he looked around nervously, trying not to bring attention to himself.

"I don't know, Kai you need to get us out of here."

 _ **"They've already noticed my presence, if I leave now they'll realize something's wrong and kill us all."** _He quickly replied and Jay sighed.

"Have you guys realized all the dragonbloods have all kinds of food with them?" Cole whispered enough for them to just hear.

"It looks like they're bringing in their... kills."

"And what do you propose that makes us?" Cole hissed, and Jay had no answer. One dragonblood flew within a meter of us, and Jay almost panicked when a Form Dragonblood turned around and winked, making Jay realize it was Chamille. While they all knew deep down she was saying they were as good as dead it was still nice for Jay to see a familiar face. Following the flight, Kai made a sharp turn flying at a vertical angle. Just as Cole, Zane, and Jay were going to fall, he pulled up, but before too long he swerved around a pillar, Jay naturally adjusted the prothetic tailfin.

Another pillar and Jay couldn't help but be reminded of his first time truly flying without the shelter and safety of the valley below them.

The fog cleared and Jay heard someone behind him gasp. A large pyramid-like mountain, made of only dark limestone rocks, stood in front of them on a small isolated island. Jay's eyes widened and they all felt very small, as Kai flew through an opening in the wall. The passageway was barely eight feet in length and five feet high, Kai having to bring his wings closer to his body not to damage them. Coming to the center of the mountain Jay saw thousands of dragonbloods surrounding them.

Some were flying, some were walking around chambers dug out of the walls.

A seemingly bottomless chasm made up for the floor, and Jay was certain anything that fell would surely be lost in the pitch black. Kai looked around for less than a second, before quickly turning to get away from the other dragonbloods. Carefully controlling the tail, they landed in a small isolated chamber. Hidden behind the wall Jay slid off and ran over to the edge, sticking his head around the corner to watch. Cole and Zane quickly followed his lead.

The other dragonbloods all flew straight ahead, soaring over the chasm before vanishing into chambers.

Each time Jay noticed they would drop something into the chasm, but Cole was the first to figure out what it was.

"Well, it's nice to know all the food that gets stolen is being dumped down a hole." He huffed.

"But they're not eating any of it..." Zane muttered, his face had confusion written all over it, as he watched the dragonbloods continue dropping all the food they had taken. Most of the dragonbloods had vanished and an eerie silence filled the air when one lone Wind Dragonblood flew into the cave. At first, it flew straight but as Jay watched he saw it was struggling to stay in the air, and it didn't take a doctor to realize it was ill. The Wind Dragonblood coughed up some goop into the pit and was about to join the others gathered on a nearby ledge.

Before anyone could blink, a monstrous head of a creature suddenly shot up and swallowed the dragonblood with one bite.

A loud crunching echoed throughout the chamber, and the monster slowly sank back into the darkness for a few moments. Anything and everything ran and flew to an exit as the head reappeared pupils dilated, and Kai managed to grab all three humans as it moved to kill them with inhuman speed. Barely escaping with their lives, Kai flew into the safety of the cloud cover as Jay reminded himself to breathe...

* * *

It took just over half an hour while flying at full speed, but Kai finally landed back in the valley, and his three human passengers jumping to the ground within as soon as they landed in relief.

"It makes perfect sense, it's like a giant beehive," Zane said, almost in awe and fascination. "They're the workers, and that's the queen, it controls them."

"Let's go find your Dad!" Cole exclaimed and he and Zane made to leave to find Cliff. Jay's eyes widened, as he ran over to the others.

"No! No, not yet... They'll kill Kai!" He exclaimed. "We have to think this through."

"Jay, we just found the dragonbloods lair," Zane replied as he looked at him with empathetic eyes. "The thing the people of Ninjago have been searching for since they first came here."

"And you want to keep it secret to protect your pet!" Cole glared at him, anger burning in his eyes. Jay felt something snap, as he turned back to face Cole.

"Kai's not my pet, he's my friend." He glare and Kai mentally cracked a smile, as Cole's glare slipped. Giving up, the raven-haired teen silently sighed in defeat.

"So what do you plan on doing?" Zane asked.

"Just... wait until tomorrow, I'll think of something." He sighed, looking over the lake and away from expecting eyes. Cole shrugged, walking off. Zane sighed, before almost glaring at Jay. Before he could react, he punched his arm and the freckled teen hissed.

"That was for kidnapping me, but you know Cole would punch much harder."

"Yeah true." Jay laughed, rubbing his sore arm. An awkward silence filled the air, and Jay cleared his throat. "Um... are you going to-?"

"Tell anyone? No." He said and Jay sighed relieved, and Zane held back a laugh. "While this is still one of the stupidest things I have ever heard of, I will not tell anyone you have a Fire Dragonblood hidden on Raven Point."

"Thanks, Zane." He smiled as the paler teen turned to leave and Jay watched as he vanished into the darkness. Smiling, he finally allowed himself to relax and a glow came from behind him.

"Never ask me for anything, EVER again."

"I'm really sorry; I didn't know they were following me." He quickly apologized as he turned to face Kai guiltily, while the Fire Dragonblood rolled his eyes.

"It's okay, you're only human." He shrugged and Jay laughed, though something seemed off. He was about to ask when a silent alarm suddenly went off in his mind and he closed his mouth as Kai walked off. "Goodnight Jaybird." He said and Jay blinked stupidly for a second before the statement actually registered.

"Um...goodnight Firebird."...


	20. Exposed

The bustle of the city was alight with a new glow, as everyone drove or ran towards the massive dueling arena. Inside ancient silk, tapestries hung from every wall, showing amazingly realistic images of the greatest Ninjago warriors of all time. People noisily found their seats, the crowd falling silent as feedback blared through the speakers almost deafening everyone. When it finally died down, and warm old chuckle filled the arena.

"My apologizes to everyone, I'm a little shocked that I can finally show my face in public again." Cliff joked through the speakers as laughter rang out through the arena, and everyone looked towards the large screen. Cliff's face was projected clearly, a proud grin lightening his usually stern features. "If someone had told me a week ago that my son Jay would come first in the Dragonblood Training, well...I would've thrown them off the island on the next ship for fear they'd gone mad!" He exclaimed and more laughter, even though everyone knew he was telling the truth.

"I still say he cheated," Harumi muttered, only to be shushed by the other failed students.

"But still, here we are, and no one could be more surprised, or more proud than I am." Cliff beamed. "Today, Jay Gordon becomes a warrior in the war against dragonbloods; today, he becomes one of us!" He shouted with pride as cheering came from all directions, and hidden around the back awaiting his grand entrance, Jay swallowed nervously.

"No pressure..." A voice suddenly said as someone walked up behind him, and Jay was surprised to see Zane and Cole standing there.

"Be careful in there with that Shadow Dragonblood, Jay," Zane warned, worry clear on his pale face.

"It's not the dragonblood I'm worried about." He admitted.

"So what do you plan on doing?" Cole asked as he rolled his eyes at Jay's attitude, probably still in denial over the fact Jay had beat him the previous day. Jay had been asking himself the same question all last night, but only when Cole asked did he realize the answer.

"I...I need to prove that the dragonbloods aren't as dangerous as everyone believes, I have to prove that there's another way, besides killing them." He replied, but before either of them could comment, he continued with his attention falling to Zane. "Um... If anything goes wrong, I need you to promise that you'll make sure nothing happens to Kai."

"Sure, but you promise nothing's going to go wrong." He almost begged when Ed suddenly appeared, and he and Cole rushed off again like the white rabbit.

"It's time sonny-boy, have fun." The older man smiled warmly as he armed the teen with his mother's shield and a spear. Taking one last deep breath, he walked into the arena. Jay hadn't thought it possible, but the cheering somehow got louder as almost everyone in Ninjago started screaming his name. Feeling the effects of stage fright, Jay tightened his grip on the offered weapons and tried to swallow the lump in his throat. The crowd fell silent, and as the cage of which the Shadow Dragonblood inhabited creaked open, Jay almost jumped as a second voice suddenly filled his mind.

 _ **"Don't look at the Shadow Dragonblood directly, they'll feel intimidated and if that happens you'll be as good as dead."**_ Kai's voice echoed throughout his terrified mind. _**"Since its daylight that with weaken their power and give you an advantage, just try and keep them in the light."**_

_**"How'd you know-"** _

_**"Shut up and don't die!"**_ Kai mentally shouted and as he finished his sentence the cage swung open and before Jay even had a chance to blink, a large black dragon burst into the arena.

It flew around the arena for a few moments, trying to blend into the shadows, but thanks to all the light in the arena that was impossible. The beast roared and snarled at the crowd, before landing at the other side of the large dome. Jay's eyes widened in fear when he got a proper look at the Shadow Dragonblood. It looked like it had just crawled out of the deepest depths of hell. The beast had angry crimson eyes that sat rooted within the creature's long, thorny skull, which gave the dragonblood a very vicious looking appearance.

Several black, curved horns sat atop its head, just above its thin, angular ears.

Its nose was large and had two long, slitted nostrils. Several huge teeth poked out from the side of its mouth and gave Jay a preview of the terror hiding inside. A strong, long neck ran down from its head and into a colossal body. The top of its body was covered in radiant pitch black skin and a row of small spikes ran down its spine. The bottom of its body was covered in coarse skin and was colored a dark grey rather than black like the rest of its body.

Four thick limbs carried its body and allowed the creature to stand elegantly and dignified.

Each limb had fice digits, each of which ended in long claws seemingly made of onyx. Gigantic wings grew from the monster's back and were almost demonic in appearance. The insides of the wings seemed to be made of thin, dark grey crystals and curved talons grew from each ending like giant scythes. Its thick tail ended in a fan-like tip and was covered in the same smooth, pitch-black skin as the top of its large body. Even though it was monstrous-looking, Jay couldn't help but admire the dragonblood.

Any other day he would have loved to sit and draw the creature, but the second it saw him, its mouth opened wide and a ball of black fire was ready to fry him.

With the dragon seconds away from attacking, Jay dropped his spear. The whole audience gasped, but Jay was more so relieved when the dragon stopped. It closed its mouth and the attack vanished into thin air. Jay showed that his pockets were empty, his grip still tight on the shield. Looking at his mother's shield, Jay hesitated, before throwing it aside.

"I'm not one of them." He insisted as the dragonblood leaned down to examine him closer, it's head within three feet of the human. Hesitantly holding a hand out for the dragonblood to sniff, Jay tensed slightly as the beast growling in a warning before its features slowly relaxed. Human and dragonblood eyes alike stared into each, a silent understanding passing between them.

"Everyone here needs to see this, the dragonbloods aren't what we think they are," Jay spoke softly and all cameras turned to watch him, his voice was being projected through a small microphone clip. He could hear Cliff yelling from above, but tried to block it out. "We don't need to kill them, we don't even need to fight them."

"I said stop this fight, now!" Cliff's voice suddenly boomed throughout the entire arena as he slammed something into the iron bars that made up all the ceiling of the arena. The Shadow Dragonblood got startled by the bang and went to attack Jay. Just managing to dodge the dragonblood's jaws as it almost bit his hand off, Jay panicked.

_**"KAI HELP!"** _

Jay didn't know if Kai heard or not as the dragonblood almost crushed him in a death roll, Jay screamed and ran off. It shot a blast of black fire at him, hitting the wall and missing the freckled teen by mere inches. Even though it fire, Jay noticed how unnaturally cold the flames were. While Jay was running, Zane and Cole had somehow managed to get into the arena, Zane pulling out his shurikens. Cole quickly followed suit, lifting up his hammer to strike.

Unfortunately, the two teens were defeated within minutes of each other but they still brought enough time for Cliff to run downstairs and throw open the doors.

"Everyone out now!" He shouted. Cole and Zane beelined for the exit, but right as Jay went running for the exit, the Shadow Dragonblood shot another blast that missed him by no more than half an inch, knocking Jay off balance for a second. That was all the dragonblood needed, however, as the beast suddenly blocked his path to the exit, so Jay had no choice but to keep running. He tripped, and the creature cornered him in its knife-like talons.

Before he could run far, however, the sharp sound of death rang clear, and before anyone could react the arena was filled with smoke and a familiar wave of heat.

People looked around in confusion, but an ear-piercing cry confirmed Jay's fears.

"Kai!" He cried as the smoke cleared, and a shock ran through the crowd. They watched as the Fire Dragonblood and a Shadow Dragonblood, both in the dragon forms, fought each other. Dodging a ball of black fire, Kai flew over and placed himself protectively between his friend and the other dragonblood. Sending a blast of boiling hot fire at the dragonblood, Jay watched as the Shadow Dragonblood retreated back into its cage. As soon as he was sure it was safe, Kai transformed back into his human form and turned to his friend.

"Honestly, I take my eyes off you for five seconds." He smirked weakly before he suddenly slumped forward. Jay gasped and rushed forward to catch the brunette. Jay grabbed his arm and he let the dragonblood leaned on him, but the moment was short-lived. The crowd quickly became an angry riot, as people jumped from their seats and into the arena. Kai struggled to stand as Cliff ran into the arena armed with his sword and shield. Kai quickly changed back into his dragon form and charged.

The leader and the dragonblood clashed, but the shield didn't stand a chance.

Kai destroyed it easily, glaring at Jay's father and readying his final attack. Jay's heart fell to his stomach as his eyes widened in horror.

"Kai stop... no, no!" He cried desperately and the attack vanished and Kai turned his head to look at him with sad eyes.

 _ **"Jaybird, you don't understand."**_ He replied and even though it had taken him no more than a second to send Jay the message, it was long enough for someone else to land an attack, sending Kai flying into the stadium walls before the dragonblood fell to the ground 10 feet below.

"KAI!" He screamed and almost ran over, but a firm hand on his shoulder stopped him. He was surprised to see Cole holding him back. Knowing it was useless to fight against him, Jay watched as a large swarm of people grabbed Kai and held him down. "No no no no just please... please don't hurt him." He begged as he felt tears well in his eyes. Kai managed to look at his friend for no more than a second before a blinding light filled the area and he passed out.

Everyone slowly backed away as the Fire Dragonblood, now in his human form, lay unconscious.

Cliff glared at his son before his attention fell on Kai.

"Throw it in one of the cages."...


	21. Disappointed

After Kai had been secured in one of the empty cages in the arena, Cliff hastily pushed Jay into the dark, empty grand hall, and he only just managed to keep his balance and stop himself from crashing into the cold, stone floor. Cliff slammed the doors behind his and Jay felt all the warmth sucked from his soul at his father's glare.

"I should've known... I should see the signs!" He grumbled under his breath.

"Dad?" He whimpered, regretting it when he opened his mouth. His voice had been heard, and being remembered of his existence only made Cliff even more furious.

"We had a deal!" He roared and Jay visibly flinched.

"I know we did but that was before..." He trailed off. He made that deal before he realized that Kai was all he had, but he knew he couldn't say that. "Everything is so messed up." He groaned at his own stupidity, but Cliff didn't even seem to hear him, continuing his mad rant.

"So everything in the arena a trick! A lie..." He hissed, the disappointment was clear in his voice. Any respect he had left for his son gone with the wind. Worse though, Jay knew everything was his own fault.

"I screwed up, I-I-I should've told you before now but just..." He stuttered as Kai's face flashed up in his mind, that look of pure fear before he fell unconscious. "Take this out on me just don't hurt Kai!" He begged and Cliff turned to face him in pure rage.

"The Fire Dragonblood? That's what you're worried about? Not the people you almost killed?!"

"He was protecting me! He's not dangerous!" He exclaimed but his cries fell on deaf ears, Cliff too thick-headed to see the truth.

"They've killed hundreds of us!" He shouted and Jay felt something inside him snapped, hearing his only family dismiss Kai as nothing more than one of 'them'.

"And we've killed THOUSANDS of them! They just defend themselves, that's all!" He cried as he tried to explain the dragonbloods style of life, the fact if they didn't steal they would be killed. He ended up accidentally revealed he had been to the island, and Cliff was already on him like a wolf to fresh meat.

"Their island, so you've been to the lair?"

"D-did I say island?"

"How did you find it?" He demanded, scaring his son as he stepped away from the older man.

"What? No, I didn't Dad, Kai did! Only a dragonblood can find the island..." He said without even thinking and Cliff's eyes widened in realization. He had just been given the answer to all his problems. His eyes glazed over, and Jay's heart fell to his stomach.

"Oh no no no Dad, it's not what you think! You don't know what you're up against! It's like nothing you've ever seen before! Dad please, I promise you, you can't win this one!" He tried to explain but he was ignored. Cliff pushed past him, and in a desperate attempt to save his life Jay grabbed his arm. "No Dad, FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE COULD YOU PLEASE LISTEN TO ME?!" He shouted, more scared than angry. With strength Jay didn't know the older man had, Cliff threw him aside, looking down at him hatred flared in his eyes.

"You've thrown your lot in with them; you're not a warrior, you mother would be ashamed." He spat and Jay's heart stopped and his blood ran cold. That was only the second time Cliff had brought his mother up, and to say that was heartbreaking. When Jay said nothing else, Cliff stormed out, slabbing the door behind him.

"Ready the ships!" Jay heard his father shout. He didn't see Cliff hesitate before walking off, looking horrified in himself. The ginger-haired teen stayed where he was on the ground, disoriented and alone...

* * *

People filled ships, saying goodbye to loved ones and quickly grabbing the best weapons they could find. Jay tried to stop them, screaming at everyone to stop, but no one heard him. That or rather no one wanted to listen to the freak that protected a 'monster'. Cole had tried to find out what was happening but no one said anything to the raven-haired teenager. Jay wanted to run to the arena and set Kai free but knew it would be heavily guarded.

Giving up, Jay could hope to reach Kai through the soul bond but he was out cold.

Zane and Jay were sitting down outside when finally Jay felt something. At first confusion, and then fear came off the bond of waves.

_**"Jay?"** _

"Kai?" He asked out loud as his head shot up, looking for the source of the voice but when Zane raised a confused eyebrow at him he blushed when quickly remembered the soul bond. _**"Kai?"**_

_**"Jay where are you?"** _

_**"Watching people ready for another attack on the dragonblood lair, where are you?"** _

"JAY!" Kai suddenly screamed. Jumping, Jay saw Kai being thrown onto one of the ships. Hands and feet tied and a blindfold over his eyes, the Fire Dragonblood thrashed around wildly as other warriors tried to move him towards the captain quarters.

"KAI!" Jay shrieked and on pure adrenaline, he ran towards the docked ships, the second his foot hit the decks however he was suddenly pulled back. He fought against the hold, but whoever it was had a firm grip on his shoulders. "No! Let me go!" He cried, almost in tears. Kai realized how close the other boy was, and his attempts to escape became even more frantic.

"Jay help!"

"Kai! No! Stop!" Jay cried as the engines started and slowly the ships pulled away. When he realized the ships were moving away from land and without Jay, he wouldn't be able to fly, the brunette had given up and was safely moved into an isolated part of the ship, hidden from eyes view. Jay watched, heart sinking until the ships faded from view. Even then his eyes still fixated on the horizon, hoping by some miracle they would turn around and come back.

Almost as if to make sure he was suffering, the cold cruel words of Cole Brookstone cut through the air.

"You've lost everything, your family, your only friend." He mused and Jay sighed, the freshly cut wounds already stinging.

"Why didn't I kill him when I found him in that valley? None of this would've happened..."

"Of course it wouldn't have, anyone in their right mind would've killed a wounded Fire Dragonblood first chance they got."

"So why didn't you?" Someone suddenly said and Jay jumped to see Zane standing behind him. "Why didn't you?" He repeated as his unusually cold eyes seemed to stare into his very soul. Having been asking himself the same question, Jay sighed, still not knowing the answer.

"I don't know...I couldn't..." He muttered, knowing the pair were obviously in an alliance.

"That's not a real answer Jay." Cole quickly replied.

"Why do you two care? I was scared, I was weak! I wouldn't kill him!" He snapped in frustration.

"You said wouldn't that time." The two answered simultaneously, and he deeply wanted to punch them both.

"I WOULDN'T! Eight hundred years and I'm the first human ever who refused to kill a dragonblood!" He shouted and Cole fell into silence, but Zane hesitated before smiling.

"First to be friends with one though..." He pointed out. Jay thought about it, the answer coming to him like a forgotten dream.

"How could I kill him... when he was so ready to die, already given up, so...scared." He answered, staring out into the ocean. "How could he kill him, when all I saw was myself?"

"You know how scared he would be right now? Surrounded by people that could turn and kill him at any second-"

"Cole!" Zane cut off the raven-haired teen. "I think what Cole is trying to say is, what are you going to do about it?"

"Probably something stupid." He rolled his eyes.

"Congratulations, but you've already done that." Cole clapped twice sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Jay's eyes widened as the idea flowed into his head, everything falling into place.

"Then something crazy." He grinned before he ran towards the arena, but the other two stayed put.

"He's going to get us all killed," Cole said and Zane laughed.

"If the others reach the lair we're all screwed anyway."...

* * *

The fleet of ships was making much faster progress than any of the warriors had expected. Ready to enter the fog known as the Devil's Gate, everyone fell silent as Cliff Gordon made his way into the isolation cell below deck. Kai sat in the corner of a pitch-black room, almost hidden between cardboard boxes and other cargo for their attack. Flicking on a light switch, Cliff removed the blindfold and Kai hissed, squinting as the light hit his amber eyes.

"Well if it isn't the brave and powerful Fire Dragonblood, are you going to tell us how to get to the lair?" He smirked but Kai scoffed, showing none of the fear that devoured his being.

"If you listened to Jay for once, you'd know this is a suicide mission."

"I didn't ask for your opinion, I asked for your co-operation."

"Why would I help you?"

"Because if you don't, the consequences won't be good for you or Jay." He replied casually. The two had a fierce glare off, as Kai tried to figure out if he was bluffing or not. Would he really hurt his own son? Not wanting to take the risk, Kai sighed giving in.

"Fine, I'll show you where the lair is."

"That's a good monster." He praised as he patted the top of the brunette's head like he was a good dog, causing the dragonblood to visibly flinch, but Cliff's smirk only grew...

* * *

When the other two finally caught up with him, Jay sent Cole to go fetch the others. He looked at the smaller teen with dagger-like eyes before leaving, and after a moment's silence, both Zane and Jay burst into laughter for a moment. When he finally returned with other students, Jay stood in front of the dragonblood cages and Plundar raised an eyebrow.

"If ya going to kill yourself, go with the Lightning Dragonblood." He said as Ronin pushed through the group, walking towards Jay.

"You were wise to seek help from the world's sexiest weapon." He smirked before Dareth cut in front of his brother.

"I love this plan!" He grinned as Harumi pushed the brunette out of the way, and Jay blushed as she leaned a little too close.

"You're crazy, I like that." She whispered in a seductive tone, Jay almost took a step back when she leaned towards his ear. Plundar quickly grabbed her and dragged her away, and Jay mentally reminded himself to thank him later.

"So...what is the plan?" Zane asked as he walked over, beaming ear to ear. Jay grinned, grabbing a steel pole he had found earlier. Walking past each of the cages, he swung the pole. The metal clashing with metal made a loud, unholy sound, humans and dragonbloods alike covering their ears. The beast inside the cage he'd hit ran towards the edge and tried to attack him through the bars of the tiny windows in the doors. Even in human form, the Wind Dragonblood looked wild and terrifying.

He looked a little older than them, possibly in his early twenties.

His appearance consisted of long jet black hair with a green streak in it and dark markings around his eyes. He was wearing a pale green shirt with torn brown pants and black boots. Jay couldn't help but be reminded of a kitten that thought it was a tiger, as he calmly opened the door. Before he could attack, Jay quickly pulled out the keys he'd taken from Ed and unlocked the dragonblood's cuffs. The Wind Dragonblood quickly backed away and glared at the ginger-haired teen, before sighing and standing up a little straighter.

"What do you want?" He hissed, causing half the group to scream and both the dragonblood and Jay rolling their eyes.

"A favor for a favor?" He replied and the dragonblood smirked.

"What's in it for me?" He asked and Jay shook the keys in his hand, and suddenly all the dragonbloods were facing him. Knowing he couldn't say no now, the Wind Dragonblood raised an eyebrow.

"Cheeky one aren't you... what'd you need?"

"We need a way to get to the lair."

"No." He glared and Jay looked down, forgetting the rest of the world for a minute.

"But they're forcing my friend Kai, a Fire Dragonblood to show them where that island is... and if they get there then everything I care about will die..."

"...well then that's another story! So you need a lift right?" He asked as Kai stood in shock before laughing. The second it took him to look away, the Wind Dragonblood had taken the keys from him and had started unlocked the cage. "Oh, and my name's Morro by the way."

"Alright Morro, I'm Jay and we don't have time for all this ideal chit-chat." He replied as the dragonbloods all carefully stepped out of their cages, scared this was all a sick trick. As they stepped out into the light of day, Jay realized this was the first time he had seen any of them in their human forms, except the Earth Dragonblood that is. The male Shadow Dragonblood was very pale with combed black hair and wore mainly black and silver clothing.

He wore black gloves and a sleeveless black vest with silver shoulder braces, a silver wolf symbol with red eyes, and in front of a blue area on the chest.

His legs were designed with gray pants and black boots. The female Poison Dragonblood had long green hair tied back into a ponytail with sickly, pale, yellowish skin and bright green eyes. Around her neck was a black, studded choker. She was wearing a ripped green tank top that was cut short to reveal her stomach and black, torn-up jeans. The female Ice Dragonblood had pale, almost as white as snow, skin with wide grey lips and bright green eyes.

Her hair was tied back in a high ponytail and was bright silver in color.

She had a purple dress with red details and an opening in her left arm that showed part of her chest, and red shoes. The male Lightning Dragonblood's skin was a light blue color while having darker spots of blue all over his body, mostly in a triangle pattern on his face and torso. He also had a dark blue lightning bolt by his yellow eyes. He had white hair while wearing a yellow headband and his attire consisted of a blue Elvis-like uniform with yellow spots of different shapes as well as a star on the left side of the chest.

The Ice Dragonblood was about to grab a weapon, right when Zane walked in with a box full of fish.

The two crashed into each other and small weapons and fish flew everywhere, the quiet pale boy landing on the dragonblood. Everyone cringed and Jay heard someone mumble finals goodbyes. Zane gasped and jumped up, face red as a tomato.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" He repeated as bowed each time he apologized. The dragonblood paid no attention, mumbling something as she quickly went to work grabbing as fish and weapons as she possibly could. When they realize this wasn't a trick, the other dragonbloods rushed for the food, and Zane was quickly trapped in the mini stampede. After every fish was taken and the dragonbloods had been freed, they all transformed and everyone paired up.

The Ice Dragonblood had practically taken the still apologizing Zane hostage.

While Ronin and Dareth fought over who rode with the Shadow Dragonblood, which Ronin won so Dareth had to pair with the Poison Dragonblood. Plundar and the Lighting Dragonblood bonded over the sibling's stupidity, teaming up. Jay sat with Cole and the Earth Dragonblood. With no other choice, Harumi had to pair with Morro. After Jay delivered a quick pep talk, they all took flight, breaking the ceiling of the arena. Most of the dragonbloods cheered as the building half crumbled, their former prison in ruins, but Jay only frowned as we flew towards the island of death.

He hoped Kai was okay...


	22. Attack!

Back in the ships, Cliff and the other warriors were becoming nervous at all the thick fog and destroyed ships scattered around them, but their leader hid his fear well, standing proud and tall. They had brought Kai up to the deck so he could direct them to the lair, keeping him bound and muzzled with vengestone chains so he couldn't use his powers. As Cliff tried to steer the lad ship through the fog, Ed suddenly walked over to him.

"Listen, Cliff, I was overhearing some of the men and some of them are wondering what it is we're up to here, not me of course, I know you're always the man with the plan; but some, not me, are wondering if there is in fact a plan at all and what it might be?" He asked.

"Find the nest and take it."

"Of course, send them packing, nice and simple." Ed sighed as Cliff rolled his eyes at the older man's ramblings. When he glanced at the captive dragonblood, he suddenly noticed Kai's body beginning to twitch, and his pupils sharpened into the slits. Cliff's eyes widened as the beast's head shot up and looked to the left. Cliff's eyes narrowed as he began to steer the ship, following the directions where Kai looked. The fog suddenly thinned greatly and the warriors from Ninjago were suddenly faced with the dark mountain.

Cliff knew they had arrived at the dragonbloods' lair.

The first in a series of rafts sent from the main ships hit land, the only sound in the air a combination of sand and stone being parted by the raft's bow. Cliff was the first to set foot onto the foreign land, and time seemed to stop. The ships stayed where they were, the waves crashed silently onto the beach. Everything stood where it was, and there was a second's hesitation in the old man's mind. He could have turned around, he could have gone home, but he was too stubborn and with each confident step he took up the black sand beach the world started to spin again.

The other warriors ran onto the beach, pulling large catapult from the boats, and formed ranks based on their strengths and weapons.

Eventually, there was silence as everyone waited for commands, soldiers eager for fight and bloodshed. Cliff stood closest to the hive turning to his army.

"When the lair falls all hell will break loose, but no matter how this ends, it ends today!" He exclaimed before he signaled to the catapults to fire. The large boulder soared only feet from his head, and crowds cheered as a deep dark tunnel was burned into the limestone wall and straight into the heart of the mountain. As dim sunlight bounced off the mountain's inner walls, silence devoured the army. Suddenly every dragonblood flew out of the new hole.

They were outnumbered at least two dragonbloods for every warrior, though still, the ranks let out several, bone-chilling battle cries as they charged.

A few dragonbloods instinctively fired attacks but before even Cliff entered the fight they all ran. Warriors tried aimlessly to hit the beasts as they fled to no avail, and within seconds the island was left abandon. Still chained up in one of the rafts, Kai watched as the nest's inhabitants fled. He tried to call out to his once friends but thanks to all the chaos and the gag he couldn't make much noise so hardly anyone gave him a glance, and he rested his head on his knees in defeat before realizing that not everyone had left.

Ed watched the last of the dragonbloods fly away in confusion.

"Well, that was disappointing, but... WE'VE WON!" He laughed as people cheered and started to party, but Cliff knew wiser. Looking towards the ships he saw the Fire Dragonblood trying to break out of his bounds, terror clear on his tanned face.

"This isn't over, form your ranks and stay together!" He ordered, causing everyone to panic and ran back into small disorganized teams, and Cliff raised an eyebrow as a pebble hit his head. Looking up he saw the whole mountain shake. On the third jump, the top fell apart and a large head, followed by a monstrous body and tail emerged from the ruins. Four small red eyes viewed their surroundings from their thin sockets. A hooked nose rested below, but it was the normal mouth below that took all the attention.

A loud, booming roar revealed rows of huge, razor-sharp teeth and a long red tongue.

Narrow round ears sat on each side of its massive head, which itself was covered in tattoo-like markings and had two large horns protruding from the top of its head. Its large, muscular body was hunched over. Two long arms rested at its sides and ended in bony hands with short fingers, of which it had eight in total. Its legs were broad and stood bent, each ending in crooked feet. Its body was covered in pitch black, stone-like skin, and its shoulders were broader than its pelvis, from which a large, long forked tail swayed back and forth.

"RUN!" Someone suddenly screamed. Panic and hell followed, some trying to remain in ranks while others ran aimlessly trying to get away. Ed stood nearby Cliff, eyes wide in fear and dread.

"What is that thing?!" He cried as Cliff shook his head, all his regrets and mistakes flashing before his eyes.

"God help us." He muttered as someone in the crowd screamed louder than the others, but as he spoke the monster listened as well, eyes hungry with would bloodlust.

"Everyone get to the ships!" Someone shouted but before Cliff could say anything the demon's mouth opened and sent blue hot fire towards the docked ships. The few that had remained on their bows jumped into the water as everything was annihilated. Kai squeezed his eyes shut and when no pain came he thought the gods had smiled on him, but a hole at the start of the ship started taking water and he swore.

"Smart that one, quite ugly too," Ed commented.

"I was an idiot, take the others to the far side of the island."

"Not a chance, it looks more fun over here," Ed argued and Cliff's teeth grind together, as he glared at the older man, but Ed pretended not to notice. "What's the plan?"

"Give it something to hunt." He glared and turned to leave, only for Ed to grab his arm.

"I can double that time!" He assured his old friend. The two nodded in mutual respect, readying their weapons. The two men grinned before simultaneously attacking the monster. The monster took a step back, and Ed shouted a goodbye as it prepared to attack. Jaws wide, everyone froze as the monster was suddenly hit by a lucky blast. The small gang of teens flew in with the dragonbloods turned friends, shouting like lunatics. Jay grinned at his father's shocked face, as the others shouted to their friends below.

Plundar hung onto the Lightning Dragonblood, which he learned was called Adam, feeling a little awkward.

The Poison and Shadow Dragonbloods, named Tox and Shade respectfully, both rolled their eyes at the brothers cheering on their backs. The Ice Dragonblood, named Pixel, tried to fly straight as Zane almost choked her hanging on. Cole smirked as the Earth Dragonblood, called Rocky, made a happy laughing sound.

"LOOK AT US!"

"WE'RE WORKING WITH DRAGONBLOODS!" Harumi exclaimed as everyone on the ground watched in awe as they flew past.

"Every bit the pig-headed, stubborn fighter you ever were." Ed chuckled and Cliff nodded proudly, but Jay didn't see it. The monster was paralyzed for a moment, long enough for them in the sky to pull into a group.

"Zane, what can you tell us?"

"Strong hide to defend itself, powerful jaws on both head and tail; small eyes, uses mostly motion sensors and hearing to hunt." He listed off as they flew around the creature.

"We're screwed." Ronin scoffed.

"Come on Ronin stay optimistic," Jay said before coming up with a plan. "Plundar and Adam, try to confuse it and buy us time; Dareth, Ronin, Tox, and Shade, make it mad and find out if it has a shot limit." He ordered. The two dragonbloods rolled their eyes as the two boys argued, firing attacks randomly at the monster. Jay nodded approvingly at their fighting, before asking Cole to take him down to the ships. As they flew over the ruined ships, Jay felt his heart drop when he saw that there wasn't a single boat that wasn't engulfed in hot, bright blue flames, fearing the worst.

 _ **"JAY!"**_ Kai suddenly mentally screamed out to his friend The smaller boy jumped, holding back tears of relief.

_**"Kai, where are you?"** _

_**"LOOK LEFT!"**_ He cried and Jay pointed to a half-sunken ship, and as Rocky flew overhead Jay dropped down.

"Go and help the others!" He ordered and the duo nodded before they flew off. Jay ran over and helped Kai removed a gag. The brunette yawned to stretch his mouth, before muttering meaningless panic as the ginger-haired teen wasted no time trying to unchain his legs. Meanwhile, as the others fought with the monster titan, Plundar somehow ending up with Cole and Rocky as Adam fled in panic. Cole and Rocky were the only ones left in the fight now.

The other dragonbloods had been knocked unconscious and the teens had dragged them to cover, waiting it out until their dragonblood partners woke up again.

The chains around Kai's legs and arms seemed to be getting tighter, his mumbling quickly becoming near hysterical screams as the water rose to their ankles. Finally, the first chain fell away as Kai kicked it off. Before Jay could move to his hands, however, a falling boulder suddenly hit what was left of the ship and they were dragged under the dark, icy water...


	23. The Final Battle

The chains dragged them down like a stone, the water dark, and Jay could only make out Kai's shadow. It was only luck he had been clinging to the padlock when they fell or else he would have never found it. Jay was already struggling for air. Kai mentally screamed at him to go but he couldn't abandon him like that. Soon enough the brunette would run out of air too. Jay's mind started to cloud, the lock he had been focusing on a second ago becoming a blur of greys and silver.

When he was mere moments from losing consciousness two arms dragged him back to the surface.

Jay gasped for air and felt himself being pushed back onto shore as the figure dove back underwater, and someone else helped him up.

"Jay!" Someone cries as he coughed, running salt out of his eyes to see Cliff above him, looking ready to cry.

"Dad?" He croaked when something suddenly jumped out of the water and Kai was thrown onto the freckled teen, gasping for air himself. "Kai are you alright!"

"Fine." He groaned weakly. Unfortunately, the brunette only had seconds to catch his breath before a tan female suddenly grabbed him by the collar and threw him into a bounder. Cliff and Jay wincing as the stone behind him cracked under the pressure. Judging by how similar they both looked Jay figured that this was Kai's sister, Nya, a Water Dragonblood. She had long black hair kept in a ponytail, pale pink lipstick, small dimples on her cheeks with dark brown eyes.

She also had a small beauty mark on her right cheek.

She was wearing a small, black leather jacket over a white shirt with lots of dark blue stripes and dark blue, torn-up jeans.

"KAI YOU IDIOT WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN FOR THE PAST I DON'T KNOW, TWO WEEKS!" She shrieked as her brother inhaled sharply, his arrogance somehow unwounded.

"Busy." He replied as she let him go and Kai stopped gasping but started laughing.

"Don't do that to me again." She snarled, but the relieved look on her face betrayed her true feelings. Cliff narrowly dodged a large sheet of metal being thrown through the air.

"I understand this must be very hard for the both of you, but now is not the time for reunions." He snapped, but Kai kept laughing and Nya hugged him. The brunette pretending to be embarrassed, even though Jay knew he wanted to hug the other back. If they survive this Jay was going to teach Kai to forget his pride. Nya whispered something to Kai and his eyes widened, muttering something back as Nya handed him a small, worn bag. A loud explosion nearby brought them back to reality and Jay saw Zane and Pixel had recovered and were helping Cole and Rocky.

Kai ran over, shouting orders at Jay.

The ginger-haired teen went to catch up with him but Cliff put a hand on his son's shoulder.

"Jay you don't have to do this." He said and his son grinned, letting him know it was alright.

"We're warriors from Ninjago; we have trouble dealing with defeat."

"Your mother would be so proud of you, and I'm proud to call you my son."

"Thank you, Dad."

"JAY! MOVE YOUR BUTT!" Kai screamed as loudly as he could. Sprinting over to him, Jay went to grab one of the many discarded weapons, but the Fire Dragonblood stopped him.

"Today we use these." He insisted before he suddenly transformed and Jay hooked up to the saddle and they took off. As soon as they were in the air, Jay reached into the bag and his eyes widened when he saw the weapon inside. It was a pair of nunchucks made of gold and forged in the shape of a dragon's head. Held together by a bolt of lightning, Jay could feel these Nunchucks were pure energy. Fast and powerful, they lightning struck first, and thunder boomed after.

Jay could tell that if he mastered them, and he could control the strongest of storms.

_**"A family heirloom, so if you damage it you're dead."** _

_**"Unless we can pull off a miracle we're all dead,"**_ Jay replied as he adjusted the prosthetic tailfin and they shot towards the monster. Kai sent a fireball at the monster to stop it from eating Zane and Pixel.

"FIRE DRAGONBLOOD! EVERYBODY GET DOWN!" Someone below screamed and Jay cheered as Kai sent another ball of fire at the monster. The attack did no damage but was enough to let Zane and Pixel getaway. The pair turned and managed to land safely, Zane signaling he was okay. The titan let out an ear-splitting howl, wings flexing in rage as an idea struck Jay.

_**"Kai we need to get it in the air!"** _

_**"What?!"** _

_**"Just do it!"**_ He snapped and Kai mentally sighed, before flying over to the monster and taunting it. The monster growled and tried to grab the dragonblood in its large claws. Kai panicked and taking off into the sky. The monster let out another shriek and many others screamed as the demon tested its wings before lifting into the air. They sped into the air but the monster still managed to keep up with them, flying amazingly fast considering his size.

As they flew, Jay used the nunchucks to fire bolts of blue lightning at the monster.

Unfortunately, he really needed to would on his aim. Kai successfully dodged cliff faces and towers of rock, as they had what felt like years ago when they had first met, but there was no time to reminisce as the giant monster gained on them smashing anything in its way. Kai turned sharply and they flew past a beach others cheering before silence as they dodged debris flying everywhere. Jay held his breath before leaning closer to Kai's ear.

"Time to disappear!" He exclaimed and they flew almost vertically into the dark cloud cover.

From shore all the others could see were the demon's massive wings lifting him through the blackness before nothing, the air still as though nothing was happening. Up above, however, it was quite the opposite. The monster turned and thrashed wildly trying to spot them, but visibility was almost at zero. Kai's guard dropped for only a second and a blast of purple fire missed them by an inch. They flew deeper into the cloud cover and when it was so dark the Fire Dragonblood was almost invisible they attacked.

Kai dove down at the monster's wing, blasting it with a ball of hot fire before vanishing back into the shadows.

The clouds lit up like an electrical storm with each attack, the monster too surprised by each one to aim any at them. Its temper rose with each attack and eventually it started aiming attacks at random, the sky around them turning to deep, dark purple masses of dark power. Jay and Kai were struggling to stay ahead of the attack when Kai suddenly dipped for a split second and Jay looked over his shoulder at the prothetic tailfin and noticed it had caught fire and was slowly burning away.

Kai sensed it too and could feel his fear through their link.

_**"Shit."** _

"Okay, times up! Go!" Jay cried as they turned and Kai roared loudly. The monster's eyes locked on them and a little more of the tailfin burned away. They suddenly dove, and as planned, the monster followed. They dodged another attack. Over half of the tailfin was gone now and Kai fought to keep flying ahead. The monster went to deliver a final attack. Against their instincts, Jay forced Kai to ignore it until the last possible second, before turning and canceling the attack with one of his own.

It worked even better than Jay could have hoped.

The attack causing an explosion in the monster's mouth, and by the time it realized how fast they were falling it was too late. The monster went to pull up, but the damage done to his wings by the duo before made it impossible to slow down. Kai turned and they flew away from the beast as it collided with the ground and died instantly. The plan was almost perfect, but they didn't have enough time to getaway. The burning remains of the tailfin snapped off the dragonblood's tail and Jau desperately tried to hold onto the saddle as Kai struggled to avoid spikes on the monster's back as the body fell.

Just when they thought they were safe, Kai barely missed being slammed by the monster's large tail but Jay was knocked unconscious.

His grip slipped off the saddle as he fell off the saddle and into the fiery death below. When he realized his rider and friend was gone, Kai turned around and dived after the falling teen, desperately trying to save him...

* * *

Cliff coughed and Nya following close behind him as the duo screamed for their respected loved ones. The rest of the warriors ran through fog, smoke, and destruction, searching for Jay and his dragonblood friend. As they all looked around, the village leader was the first to see an unmistakable silhouette leaning weakly against a rock.

"KAI!" Nya cried when she realized who it was. The shadow coughed and both Nya and Cliff tan over faster. The Water Dragonblood threw her arms around her brother and Cliff froze, the survivor seemingly alone. The older man collapsed to his knees.

"O-oh Jay... I did this..." He whimpered, tears welling up in his eyes. A crowd soon surrounded the three, dragonbloods and humans alike coming together to grieve their loss. Kai winced and Nya took a step back muttering an apology under her breath and Cliff looked up, eyes red from his unshed tears. "I'm so sorry..." He quietly said. Kai suddenly laughed and over a thousand eyes glared at him, including his sister's.

"Do you mean that?" He asked.

"W-What?" Cliff asked in confusion. Kai shuffled over slightly to reveal a second person leaning against the rock and Cliff gasped, pulling the seemingly lifeless body of his son into his arms. Bruised and definitely a bit battered, but as Cliff pushed his ear against the smaller's chest that all seemed to fade. "He's alive... MY SON'S ALIVE!" He sobbed in relief. Everyone cheered and Kai chuckled, leaning fully against the boulder in exhaustion, but still had enough energy for his signature ego.

"Yeah, I helped." He smirked. Cliff put an arm on Kai's shoulder and the brunette almost blushed, feeling a weird warm sensation bubbling in his chest.

"Thank you, for saving my son." He smiled as Ed walked over and looked over at the boy in Cliff's arms and winced, mentally noting never to trust Kai with his life.

"Well... most of him."...


	24. A New World

When Jay finally regained consciousness a week later, the first thing he noticed was the body that had somehow managed to worm itself into his bed and under his arm, head resting on his chest. The spikey brown hair in his face gave its owner away and Jay felt breath get caught in his throat. Kai sat up quickly and almost pulling the smaller teen's arm off with him.

"Ouch," Jay muttered under my breath, but upon hearing his voice Jay could swear Kai's eyes teared up as he wrapped his arms around his human friend in a crushing hug.

"Jaybird! You're alive!"

"Hey, hothead." Jay grinned weakly. Kai quickly regained his composure and let Jay go, dropping him back onto the bed which was a lot harder than it looked. Jay sat back up and put a hand on his back wincing, looking around, realizing that Cliff had repainted the walls of their home with red and blue walls, the colors clashing badly. Jay had no idea what on earth was his father was thinking when he painted the walls that color.

"Obviously he has no taste in color, I've seen better color co-ordination in bird poop," Kai mumbled under his breath and Jay smiled, their link was still obviously working until he noticed the problem.

"I'm in my house."

"The horribly colored house, yes."

"You're in my house?"

"What's the big deal?"

"You're in my house! Does my Dad know you're here? Come on we need to hide you!" He exclaimed as he made to get off the bed, but cried out when he felt a sudden pain in his left leg. He lost his balance and ended up throwing himself off the bed. Kai ran over though, catching him before he hit the ground.

"Sorry, my balance is off." He said frowning. Something about his left leg didn't feel right. Actually, Jay couldn't feel the lower half of his leg at all. Some far part of his mind registered Kai telling him not to freak out, but he glanced down anyway. Jay saw that his left leg up to his shin was replaced with a metal prosthetic. The prosthetic leg was made out of metal and wood. The wooden section, which acted like his ankle, was attached to his leg while the metal part, which acted as his foot, was hooked onto the wood.

It was constructed with a spring system and an adapter stirrup for flying with Kai.

There was also a spring inside to act as a shock absorber. Jay's eyes widened as his brain started to register that his left foot was gone. The foot he used to control Kai's tailfin was gone. He looked away shaking and tried to focus on my breathing as Kai helped him stand up straight. He leaned against the brunette for balance, trying to figure out how he was ever going to get used to this.

"I'm sorry Jay..." He heard Kai whispered as he looked away uncomfortably and Jay's eyes widened.

"It's not your fault Kai! Don't blame yourself." He insisted and Kai smiled at him half-heartedly as he helped the ginger-haired teen downstairs. When they finally made it, Jay opened the front door and then proceed to slam it on Morro's face by instinct. Kai choked back a laugh as they heard Morro swear and Jay opened it slowly to see Zane grinning at him sheepishly.

"Jay you're finally awake!" He cried as he hugged his friend awkwardly but Jay was too busy trying to look over his shoulder to what was once his home town of Ninjago. Lloyd was playing leapfrog with a few children other dragonbloods. Cole was shouting at Rocky and a Metal Dragonblood to move a post a little to the right, the two dragonbloods happily obliging. Plundar was Adam and a few other dragonbloods a tour. The clock tower struck noon and people poured out of the grand hall, but when Jay looked harder it was impossible to miss Nya's tanned skin and jet black hair.

Dareth ran out to do something else and Tox followed him, looking very bored. Watching all the dragonbloods and people mingling, Jay had no other explanation.

"I knew it, I'm dead!" He muttered, seemingly in a shocked daze. Nya heard him and nudged Cliff, who's eyes lit up in a way Jay had never seen before.

"Jay! Thank God you're awake" He called out what Jay thought must have been loud enough for the whole island to hear. People and dragonbloods were suddenly everywhere surrounding him. Lloyd tackle hugged the freckled teen so quickly he would've fallen over if Kai hadn't have been behind him and as soon as the boy let go Plundar grabbed him in a noogie. He saw Nya give Kai a hard but playful punch in the shoulder, the later sibling glaring at his sister.

Even Cole had cracked a smile.

"Turns out all we needed was a little more... this." Cliff smiled broadly though, full of pride.

"You just gestured to all of me." Jay gasped as he blinked back a tear and Cliff nodded.

"Well, most of you!" Ed said as he and his wife burst through the crowd. "That part is mine and Edna's handiwork, think it'll do?" He asked and Jay glanced down at his new foot.

"Might make a few tweaks." He shrugged and the crowd laughed. Nya walked in front of him and passed him a brand new saddle, prosthetic tailfin, and riding harness. He looked at her in confusion but she smiled.

"It wasn't that hard to figure out how you made this stuff; welcome to the family." She grinned as Jay felt blood rush to his cheeks and he smiled back. The second he saw the new tailfin, Kai transformed into his dragon form forcefully pushed his way through the crowd almost running someone over at one point. Jay realized he hadn't been flying for the whole time he was unconscious. The crowd finally dispersed and Jay, with some help from Nya and Cole, attached the new tailfin and saddle and put on the harness.

Kai happily chirped as Jay clipped his harness to the saddle.

When he went climbing onto Kai's back, Jay saw this new saddle and tailfin had been built with a modified pedal designed for Jay's new prosthetic, with a red-painted fin that was much stronger and sturdier than its predecessor with a white skull symbol. He quickly clipped his left leg in and adjusted the tailfin. Sensing his rider was secure, Kai barely gave Jay time to grab the saddle as he took off. The gang took off after him and even Nya followed as they rose into the sky.

This was the first time Jay had seen a Water Dragonblood in their dragon form.

Angry sapphire eyes sit tightly within the creature's soft, angular skull with long, curved ears, which gave her a rather intimidating appearance. Her nose was small and had two small, angular nostrils. A thin neck ran down from her head and into a slim snake-like body. The top of her body was covered in grey, narrow scales, and rows of small cyan blue crystal growths ran down her spine. The bottom of Nya's was covered in coarse skin and was colored a darker grey than the rest of her body.

Four slim limbs carried her body and allowed her to stand mighty and noble.

Each limb had six long, slim digits, each of which ended in thick claws that were seemingly made of the darkest onyx Jay had ever seen. Her gigantic wings were somewhat triangular. The skin inside the wings was light blue and smooth and armor-like scales grew on top of the wing's primary bones. Her barbed tail ended in a trident-like blade and was covered in the same narrow grey scales as the rest of her body. The gang flew around the village, racing each other with their dragonblood partners.

Jay Gordon felt his mind begin to wander as the wind blew into his face and he looked down at the village.

This was his home. This was Ninjago. The stars were hidden by clouds all year round and the moon was only visible once a month. Any events or celebrations here were dull and boring, and the people here were even more so. The only upside was the friendships. While in other places your friends take you fishing or camping, the people of Ninjago's friends gave them the ability to fly. They were like each others' other halves and Jay knew Kai would always be his other half...

* * *

Jay and Kai flew around the island for a good hour, the others turning around as they got tired or bored. Kai signaled something to Nya that Jay couldn't understand and she left as well, leaving him and Kai alone with the endless skies and forest. Kai told his friend to turn left and they dove into a familiar valley. Jay unattached himself from the saddle and the dragon vanished as Kai transformed into his human form. They walked next to each other for a second, but it wasn't until Kai suddenly climbed back onto his stone throne that Jay finally realized where we were.

"This is where you hid for all that time." He said, feeling sad at the memory of Kai sitting here all on his own while he was out getting all the fun and glory.

"This is where we met, yes." Kai grinned, choosing to remember the good times. With some help from the brunette, Jay sat next to him on the bolder, and the sunlight reflected off the crystal clear lake giving the whole valley a fresh glow. They started reminiscing about the good old days. Kai laughed about when they fell into the lake, and Jay laughed about when they crashed into the field of flowers and dragging Kai to safety. It was good to just joke around and have fun.

It was almost dark, when suddenly out of nowhere Kai punched the ginger-haired teen in the arm, almost hard enough to knock him off the stone they were sat on.

"That's for scaring me."

"Do you always have to hit me? Because seriously-" He started, only to be cut off when he suddenly felt something soft and warm press against his lips. Almost as soon as it happened, Jay's cheeks were bright red as Kai quickly pulled away. He could swear even the brunette was blushing, but he deliberately waited for dark so Jay couldn't see clearly.

"I could get used to this."...

* * *

**THE END**


End file.
